My Brother's Butler
by IntrovertedProcrastinator
Summary: ((Rewrite of an old version of this)) Kimberly Phantomhive is the eldest Phantomhive, although there are some secrets to her. She isn't Ciel's full sister, no, and she isn't fully human, either. But her secrets are deeper than that. Read along to find out what she's hiding, her ultimate love-interest, and fight with her through her adventures with the Queen's Guard Dog.
1. Chapter 1

"Mum! Mum where are you?!" Called out the voice of a small girl. Her dark hair and violet eyes barely visible through the smoke. Everywhere she looked there was something on fire. Unaware of where it began, she didn't care as panic seeped into her heart.

"Kimmy! Run!" She heard her mother's voice but refused to do as told. She bolted for the sound of her mother, managing to dodge falling wood that flamed. Fire licking at her arms and legs that remained bare as she was wearing her nightgown.

"Mum! Mum!" She called out again, bursting into the room her mother had called out to her from. What she saw was a horrific sight, blood splattering all over the walls and the floors and her wounded mother leaning against the wall across the room. A man she had never seen before held out a large scythe and glowered at her, smirking with triumph, "you know what you've done wrong," he snarled, smirking when he saw Kimberly entering the room. "Oh how cute, curiosity killed the cat, you know~" he said, stalking towards her.

Kimberly stood there like a deer in headlights and gasped when he picked her up by the back of her nightgown. She struggled, kicking and punching at random, swinging everywhere she could to try and achieve her goal to get away from the strange man, "no! Let me go! Mummy! Help!" She cried out, the eight year old child crying for her mother who was far too weak to move. She continued to put up a fight until the poor thing was thrown across the room into the wall.

Every muscle in her body already ached from the smoke clouding her lungs, the flames having burned her skin and now they threatened to engulf her. Hitting the wall made a wall shatter and she let out another cry, slumping to the ground as she watched her mother charge for the man, though much slower than she would normally be. She slashed at the man with a sword, missing him because of his speed and he appeared behind her, a glowing green dagger in his hand rather than his scythe. He pulled her to him and whispered something in her ear before slitting her throat. She watched her mother falling to the ground, her eyes wide with fear as she screamed out for her mother.

Everything went black after that, the small angelic little girl found herself standing over her mother's dead body and the sight of blood pooling around her caused her knees to give way and she fell to the ground, tears rushing down her cheeks. When she moved her hands to shake her, wanting to wake her, she noticed she already had blood on her hand, her legs, her arms, even in her hair. Confused, the going girl looked around to find the man from before dead and slumped against the ground. She gasped sharply, unknowing whether it was she who killed him, or if she was merely a witness to his death.

Scared, she began to shake her mother more furiously, "mum! Mummy!" She cried out, "wake up, mum! Wake up! We have to go!" She cried out, seeing the flames beginning to engulf the room. She cried harder, choking on sobs and smoke when her mother's body didn't move or make any signs of being alive. She looked up into the mirror across the room and couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her features were sharper, she no longer looked like the cute eight year old Phantomhive girl. Her once soft violet eyes had hardened to a blacker color, her black hair was soaked with blood. Worst of all, she noticed the pure white nightgown she wore was bloodied beyond belief and burnt around the edges, causing it to fray and shorten considerably. She no longer had ears, but what seemed to be animal ears, and what seemed to be a tail. She gasped, lifting her hand to feel one of them only to find that it was real.

She could hear voices down the hall, men from the sounds of it, and only one was familiar.

"Daddy! Daddy come quick!" She cried out, not wanting to leave her mother's side in fear that she might still be alive, though knew deep down she was never coming back. Before long, men with masks burst into the room. The flames seemed to engulf the man slumped against the wall because he was no longer there. The men ran to her, picking her up and forcing a mask over her face and then another picked up her mother. She didn't know who they were but they ran her out of the house, out of the fire and into the crisp nighttime air.

"Oh Kimmy!" A man's voice was heard and Kimberly immediately was allowed into his arms, her father, Vincent Phantomhive, held her close to his chest, pulling the mask off and kissing all over her face, obviously relieved his daughter had made it. The ears and tail must have disappeared along with her black eyes because no one said anything about it. She clung to her father, who held her close to him, as they both watched men taking her mother away. She knew she would never be back, and that reality brought tears to her eyes, she missed her mother already. But she knew now, she had to protect her father. She had to protect her family. It is what she would have wanted.

 **((Thank you guys for reading, comment if you like!))**


	2. Chapter 2

**(Thanks so much for all the reads and stuff last chapter. I'm currently remaking these chapters with not much to work with. I started this story when I was 11, so here I am, reading over it and face palming at how horrible and cheesy it is, so please bare with me! ^^")**

Kimberly kneeled over the roof of a building. She watched over Sebastian and Ciel, knowing she had to make sure they were ok. She hadn't been able to watch over her little brother when he was still a younger child, she was determined to do it now that she can be with him. You see, after Kimberly's mother died, she was afraid things would never go back to normal. Her father hardly talked, only smiled to cheer her up, she was scared for him. Until one day, he met a new woman. She was beautiful, she had big, blue eyes, honey colored hair, she was a real beauty. But she was afraid that if her father got too close to this woman, he would forget about her mother. The mother she took after in more than one way. Of course, her protests and outbursts didn't matter to her father when it came to the new woman, they married whether she liked it or not. Of course, her new stepmother was nice enough to her, she just didn't want to feel like she was betraying her mother.

After Ciel was born, she quickly felt replaced, but when she saw him, his big blue eyes and dark hair he got from his father, all that jealousy and anger was gone. She immediately felt the responsibility to watch over the baby boy. Which she did, whenever their mother would be knitting or didn't have time to play with Ciel all the time, Lizzy would come over, or Kimberly would play with him. She kept him safe from harm, loving her new baby brother. But like all fairy-tales, hers came to an end. Her demonic side had begun to act up, she was rapidly becoming more and more dangerous, more quick-tempered, she became more frightened of herself as the days carried on. She had an outburst one day and nearly killed a maid, which was when her stepmother found out about it. She wasn't treated the same afterwards, the woman who had once treated her as her own now treated her like a wild animal that could bite her hand off at any given moment. Her own father even backed up his new wife instead of his daughter, although his love for her never changed. She was sent away to France, her stepmother not wanting her anywhere near her, and Victor had a brother who lived with his wife in France. She lived with them for a long time, getting word about them dying, about Ciel's body having never been found and finally went back to England to look for him when she got the chance, when he returned, she made the decision to never leave her brother's side again, to always protect him.

She shook her head to shake the memories away from her mind and returned to the task at hand. She watched as Sebastian began to fawn over a cat and Ciel scolded him. She found it boring, but knew she had to keep her guard up, as if on cue, a scream sounded from the nearby house. She had to force herself from standing up on instinct and waited for the door in the alleyway to open up. She narrowed her eyes as she saw that butler from earlier, Grell Sutcliff. She tried to hold back a small growl, but it still rumbled lowly in the back of her throat. She was sure she saw Sebastian's eyes shift to the roof where she was, but when she looked directly at him, he was glaring at Grell, making sure he didn't get too close to Ciel. Figuring it was her imagination, she went back to glaring at the butler, who was splattered with blood and fumbling over his words for an excuse for the blood and the scream.

Kimberly didn't exactly find it hard to believe, but at the same time, she didn't expect for the butler to be some murderer. She tried her best to listen in on the conversation, she tried to keep herself held down onto the roof so that Ciel wouldn't know she had followed him, like she had been forbidden to do. Though the task was becoming increasingly harder to do, as she watched the Butler, reveal himself to be a Shinigami. Though she continued to try her hardest to keep herself restrained. She bit her bottom lip to stop herself from letting out sounds of anger, or surprise as the scene continued to unravel. She found herself staring down at Madam Red, Ciel's aunt, standing by the Shinigami's side. She knew she should head back to the city manor, she should stay there and act like she had never seen anything, but her curiosity kept her there. She slowly crept down from the roof and into the darkness of the shadows, keeping as stealthy as a cat. She remained in the shadows, covered from sight and had to bite down on her lip harder than she probably should have when she saw that the reaper had began to attack Sebastian. Her breath hitched in the back of her throat, caught there like someone had stolen her breath.

Her attention varied between Sebastian, who was fighting the reaper like the battle was a game he was a master at. She admired him for a bit longer than she should have and in no time, she realized she situation Ciel was in. She was itching to rush to Ciel's aid, but that would be betraying him. Madame Red was cornering him, a knife in her hand. She lifted it to stab him, she was about to jump out to save him when Sebastian appeared behind Madam Red faster than she could see, about to kill her on the spot, when Ciel ordered him not to.

"Stop, Sebastian!" he ordered, remaining still and watching Madam Red, whose eyes began to tear up and she screamed out in frustration.

Kimberly knew she couldn't stay there for much longer, her curiosity of how the battle would end had been settled. She wasn't fully aware of what had happened until after it happened. She found herself standing on all fours, suddenly much warmer, but colder and more bare at the same time. She was now in the form of a cat, larger than a normal cat of course, but a cat none the less. Her black, sleek, fur seemed to shine in the little bit of moonlight there was. Her bright, violet eyes almost glowed in the dark and she quickly went to move under a nearby cart. She watched the scene carefully for a few moments before sighing a bit and sprinting from under the cart and out of the alleyway. She wanted to stick around, if only to make sure nothing happened to them, but knew that if she did, not only would she get in trouble, but she might see something she wouldn't want to. She might risk throwing herself in front of Ciel, resulting in getting hurt and ruining the whole thing for them.

She scrambled down the bricked sidewalk, sprinting and trying to keep friction in each step, though the puddles and jagged pieces of broken glass made it difficult for her to safely maneuver to the city house.

A clap of thunder roared in the sky, her fur bristled, puffing up with surprise and fear and went to move faster, but the rain began quickly afterwards and she was weighed down by the water soaking her fur. She knew she wasn't that far from where they were staying while in town, but she couldn't go much further without getting hurt. Already, she could hardly see where she was going.

The only real solution was to wait until the storm had at least died down a bit, though she prayed that Sebastian and Ciel wouldn't return and find that her room was empty. She laid down under a box, finding it to be the driest spot she could see at the moment and laid her head down on her paws, deciding to relax until the storm had died.

~~~~Epic Time Skip of Kitty-ness~~~~

Of course she had fallen asleep. What else did she think would happen if she laid down. She had awoken when the rain had already gone, the moon was still peeking out from behind the clouds. Kimberly stood up, still a cat, and stretched, yawning a bit and emerging from the box. She knew she had to hurry back, starting at a trot, then moving to a sprint in the direction of the dark house she and her brother were to stay at. She knew she very well couldn't enter the house at this stage, so she went over to the tree closest to the house, climbing it the best she could, although she still found it rather difficult considering the bark was wet. She finally made it, balancing just barely on the flimsy branch that grew close to the window that lead into her room. She perched herself on the edge of the window and very gently, so that she wouldn't fall or make any noise, she entered the room, pushing the window open.

"Well, look who arrived. Welcome back, lady Kimberly," a familiar, deep voice said, his crimson eyes burning into the cat.


	3. Chapter 3

**(Thank you, everyone, for the favorites. I really appreciate it! Comment if you wanna, creative criticism is always welcome!)**

Kimberly looked at Sebastian with shock and horror. He was the only one who knew about her little secret, not even Ciel knew. She gulped and looked up at him, her tail going between her legs and her ears going back.

Standing up, Sebastian sighed and placed a gown on the bed and turned to leave the room, "Your brother wishes to see you, once you are dressed, I shall escort you to him."

With that, he left the room, and Kimberly was left alone to shift back into her human form. Which was exactly what she did, though she shuddered when her bare skin came in contact with the chilly air, no longer protected by her fur. She quickly dressed in the gown, long sleeved and dark, almost a black but it had a purple tint to the color. It was soft too, and fit her perfectly. She exited the room and glanced at Sebastian, hoping her brother had not been informed of her secret, as she was sure would happen. She was almost absolutely sure that Sebastian hated her.

Upon arriving in the room Ciel sat himself in, she slowly made her way in and smiled at him, "Hello, Ciel. Having trouble sleeping?" she asked, casually. Maybe if she tried to act like she hadn't left, she wouldn't get told off. It wasn't Ciel she didn't want to be scolded by, he was her younger brother, so she hardly ever listened to him anyways, but Sebastian knew how to make her feel guilty just for breathing.

"Where were you?" he asked, getting straight to the point the way he always did. He looked at her with a frown, his arms crossed as he sat in the cushioned chair by the window. The look didn't match him. He should be smiling and laughing at his age, he shouldn't be worrying or frowning the way he does.

"What are you talking about-"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about!" he exclaimed, a pissy look in his deep, ocean blue eyes.

Barely managing to not retort back, reminding him their ages and scolding him the way he was scolding her, she said with a sigh, "I got worried for you two, so I took a walk. It started raining and I got lost." she answered him, lying through her teeth. There are many secrets she knew she had to keep from him, but she also knew that keeping those secrets would be keeping him from the burden of knowing.

He looked at her for a long time before sighing and turning his attention to the window. "Why didn't you let anyone else know what you were doing? What if you got hurt?" he asked, emotion well-guarded but his anger was seeping through his voice. Though it was not blind anger. It was restrained anger. Each word, every look and movement he made was thoroughly thought through.

"Everyone was busy. If I got hurt, I'm sure Sebastian or you would have found me. So what is the difference between me leaving on my own, and you leaving on your own?" she asked, looking straight at him. She was older than him, by about 4 years. Of course, she looked younger than she really was, getting that trait from her mother.

"The difference is, I have someone to look after me when I leave. You did not." he said, still not looking at her. Before she could say anything more, he continued, "What do you think would have happened if you got hurt badly enough that you died? You realize we are all that is left of the Phantomhive family. Do you not?" he asked, more rage crossing his voice, though she knew the sound of grief, and it was ebbing its way into his voice.

Kimberly looked at him, her expression hard. She hated having conversations like these. She knew just as much about grief as he had, so when he brought up being the last of the Phantomhives, all the guilt about not telling him the whole truth about everything crashed down on her.

"Yes. I know we are the last. Ciel, you need to stop reopening closing wounds. If you continue to bring up our," she couldn't help but hesitate, "parents… All you're going to do is make it harder to accept that they are gone. I know that you are upset, but you cannot remain so torn, you will only make yourself that much more grief-stricken." she lectured. She still had not told him that they did not share the same mother, and she didn't plan to. She didn't allow Ciel to retort and continued, "They died long ago. You are safe, I am safe, we have the manor and the rest of our family. I know you don't understand this yet, but if you cling to their deaths, nothing good will come out of it. I am the eldest in this family. It is my responsibility to keep you safe and you are acting like you must take all these responsibilities on your own. I can keep myself safe, can you?" she asked, turning around and marching away from him, pushing past Sebastian and glaring as she continued up the stairs and to her room.

Kimberly didn't leave that room until they were loading their things and leaving the city house. She had been told what had happened by Sebastian, or at least what she was allowed to know. That Jack the Ripper had been caught and that Madame Red had been killed. Their job here was done and they had to leave.

Kimberly tried her hardest to keep her mouth shut during the long ride home. Normally, she would be talking with Ciel, telling him little bits and pieces of the books she read or anything else that came to her mind. But right now, she was upset with him. For bringing up their father, for scolding her, even Sebastian waited to scold her until the following morning. But she didn't bother to argue, not needing another fight on her hands.

She was rather fond of Sebastian, she thought as she stared out the window, determined to keep her thoughts off of the round she had with her brother. He was tall and kind, and he was a wonderful cook. He looked after Ciel and cared for him even though he could be a prat when he wanted to. She bit her bottom lip and thought of his crimson eyes, his messy black hair, how each of his movements seemed swift and thought out. He was smart and good for the manor. She found herself blushing, her face hot and she quickly placed her hands to her cheeks to cool her face off, not needing Ciel to notice how bright her face was.

She returned to looking out the mirror once her blush had died down. She couldn't love Sebastian anyways. He was a demon, although they kept a few secrets from Ciel, that was probably the one thing they had in common. He couldn't love, it was a miracle she could. But she was part human, too. She stared out the window until her thoughts blurred together in a giant mass of stress and guilt and anger and sadness. Nothing could replace these feelings.

By the time they returned to the manor, it was lunch time and Kimberly didn't have much of an appetite, even for Sebastian's cooking. She returned to her room right away and picked up her book and decided to lose herself in it. She found herself humming a tune her mother had often sung to her before she died, it comforted her, reminding her that she was still a part of her mother. She couldn't concentrate on the book, lying there, staring at the ceiling until she was awoken by a knock on the door.

She sat up, smoothing her hair and dress down before calling out for whoever it was to enter.

"My lady, your brother has company and wishes for you to join him." Sebastian said, opening the door and stepping in a little. He raised an eyebrow at her when he saw her. Her hair was all messy and she looked like she had just woken up. "But of course, it seems you will have to fix up first. I will be back shortly," he said, going to shut the door.

"Wait! Sebastian…" she began, standing up, "would you mind helping me?" she asked, knowing Mey-Rin was probably doing something if it wasn't her to inform her.

Sebastian nodded and entered the room, shutting the door behind himself as he did and walked over to her. He smiled at her a bit as he motioned for her to sit at the vanity. She did as told and sat down, staring at herself in the mirror and taking glances at Sebastian when she could. He pulled out her braid she had in and carefully ran his fingers through her hair to relieve it of the knots before beginning to gently brush her hair.

Kimberly held back shivers as she felt his fingers through her hair, they gently brushed over the back of her neck every now and then and she blushed softly. Within minutes, her hair was perfectly brushed and in a crown braid. Normally, she would say something against looking so childish, but she didn't complain. She stood up and Sebastian bowed slightly to her and then straightened up, "Shall I escort you to your brother, my lady?" he asked, placing his hand gently over his heart and smiled at her the way he smiled at everyone.

"Of course, Sebastian." she said and followed him out of the room. She followed him through the hallway, and only did she speak up when they were just around the corner from the study. "Sebastian? Who is our company?" she asked. She knew she had been loud enough for him to hear her, but he didn't answer. Shrugging slightly, she was sure it was probably just Aunt Francis or Elizabeth. But when she walked into Ciel's study, she saw how wrong she was.

"Oh Kimmy! My how much you've grown!"

In that moment, Kimberly felt her world collapse in on itself and all her guilt and secrets unfolded.

 **((Thank you guys so much for the comments! I hope this chapter is better, give me your opinion in the comment selection if you wanna!))**


	4. Chapter 4

**((Thanks for holding through with me on this cliff hanger you guys! Sorry if the last chapter, or even this chapter aren't as good as I promised, but I'm trying to make up for any chapter I won't update this weekend))**

She sat down in a chair, having to sit just a few feet away from the woman that had the power to ruin her whole life and still did. She tried as hard as she could to avoid eye contact with woman.

Her long blonde hair was pulled into a tight french braid and her bright blue eyes looked Ciel and her over like there was no way she could have lost anyone in her life. Like she was innocent and had never done any wrong-doing in her life.

"So, Kimmy, I certainly see why you returned to England, I was talking with my little nephew here, though. It seems you have neglected to mention me in any way." she said this all with a smile on her face that would seem sweet to anyone. But Kimberly knew better. It wasn't a real smile and she knew it.

"Yes, I have, I didn't think we would ever be getting a visit from you, seeing how much you despised England. I didn't think it to be necessary," she explained, attempting to sound emotionless like Ciel did so often, but her voice betrayed her and every bit of her anxiety about the very being of the woman was shown in her words.

Sebastian noticed this, glancing at Kimberly and then looking at the woman who had introduced herself as Lady Elise, calling herself Kimberly and Ciel's aunt.

"I have been shown documents and paperwork that prove she is who she says she is," Ciel said, glancing at Kimberly for a moment and then looking back at his supposed aunt, "You are welcome to stay here in the Phantomhive manor for as long as you will be staying."

"Thank you, Ciel. I've always been told you were a good child, I didn't think you were so hospitable," she said, smiling at him. Though she didn't stand and she hardly looked at Kimberly when she spoke up.

"How long will you be with us, Aunt?" She asked, hoping it wouldn't be long. She wasn't sure how long she could bare treading over glass with the woman around.

"Oh not too long, I will be out of your hair in no time at all! I simply wished to see my darling nephew and niece!" she said, her smile growing wider which only caused Ciel to nod in her direction and for Kimberly to shudder slightly at the very thought.

"Well if you don't mind, I should be going now," Kimberly said, standing up quickly and moving to leave the room, only stopped when Ciel called for her to.

"Kimberly, why don't you take our aunt with you? I have more work to do, and Sebastian cannot fix dinner when he is being badgered." he said, watching his sister carefully.

Kimberly turned around and faked a smile and nodded, "Of course, I'd be delighted to wander the manor with our aunt," she said, meaning it to sound more sarcastic than it did.

With that, however, she got stuck wandering aimlessly in awkward silence with her aunt, cringing when she saw the woman raise her hand to admire the texture of something. She couldn't stand being in the same country as the woman, much less the same hallway. She couldn't keep her thoughts under control, worrying about the real reason the woman had come to visit them all the way in England. She wanted to speak up about it, but she was afraid of saying anything and then having the Aunt Elise she knew come back. Finally, she gathered up the courage to say something to her.

She stopped in her tracks and stared at the woman, narrowing her eyes slightly and spoke, "What's the real reason you came here?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Why, Whatever are you talking about, Kimmy? I already told you-"

"I know what you told me. What I want to know is the truth. Why are you really here? You wouldn't actually want to come see us," she said, trying to keep a good distance from her but still be near enough she could easily read into her expressions. But there was no need for reading her expressions, the moment she said that, she was practically an open book.

Her face contorted into disgust and she looked at her with pure hatred in her eyes. "It is true, when you knew me, I would have rather died than be anywhere near you or this family again," her face softened some, some of the hatred leaving her eyes, but not all the way, "Can't you just accept that I have changed? I'm allowed to change, aren't I?" she asked, her voice changing too, matching the expression she was trying desperately to make.

Kimberly stepped back just slightly and kept her glare trained on the woman, "No. I don't believe you changed. You still hate me, you hate us. Ever since Uncle died, you have never looked at this family any differently and you never will. I want you gone. Stay away from my little brother, or trust me, you won't need to hate us any longer." she said, attempting the threatening tone she had heard so often used on her.

The woman laughed a bit, soft and quietly at first, then it quickly turned louder and more maniacal. She stopped giggling after a little bit and grinned at her, the dark, disgusted look still there as she looked at her with a hard look. "I'm not about to leave, Kimmy Darling. I have work here I need to complete, then, I will gladly leave you here alone to grieve," she said with a smirk before walking back the way they came, pushing past Kimberly on her way past.

Kimberly frowned and let her walk away, turning to watch her leave for only a few moments and then turned back to think about what she said. What was she talking about? What did she mean she was going to leave her alone to _grieve_? She shook her head and moved on from the thought, though she couldn't help but to ponder on the thought as she walked the empty halls, taking the long way back to her room. For a few moments she could have sworn she could have heard a tone of tease in her voice, but she might have simply imagined it, her memory morphing to match her paranoia.

She hurried back to her room, not wanting to be caught in the halls and scolded by Sebastian again and maneuvered her way into her room without any sound. Though the second the door clicked shut, she heard a voice at the other side of the room, though it wasn't exactly the one she was expecting.

"My lady, I apologize for intruding, but I believe you have a bit of explaining to do, don't you?" Sebastian's deep voice purred from across the room, behind her.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself and slowly turned around to look at him, still expecting him to be several yards away, when in reality, he was so close she could trace the details of his perfectly sculpted face with her eyes. She placed a smile on her face, trying to seem as happy as she could to fake the emotion thoroughly so that he didn't see through her facade.

"Whatever do you mean Sebastian? You already know everything about me, I am an open book. You know that." she said with a smile, gracefully sidestepping him to walk around him, but was cut off by him quickly stepping in her way.

"Is that so, my lady? Then tell me," his face got so close to hers that they shared the same air, "Why are you hiding something?" he asked, his face serious, which was actually more nerve-racking than if he were upset with her. He grabbed her waist, his hand fitting into the small of her back as he pulled her to him so his face was closer and he could stop her from moving away.

Kimberly blushed and looked up at him wildly, unsure of the situation and frowned slightly, trying to feign confusion, "Sebastian, you must be feeling quite daring today. You wouldn't have advanced on me if you weren't. I told you, I'm not hiding anything." she said, trying to sound persistent but her voice quivered only slightly, only so much that she was sure he couldn't have heard.

Sebastian lifted her chin up so that she would look him directly in the eyes, "You are avoiding the question, my lady, I would rather not force you to speak, as my young master seems to be rather tightly tied to you, but if it means keeping my lord safe, I will do so gladly and with a smile on my face." he threatened with the artificial smile he mastered so long ago.

At this, Kimberly seemed to crack, her voice squeaking when she answered him at last, "What do you mean 'keep him safe'? He isn't in any trouble, is he?" she asked, her expression changing to a helpless sort of look, biting her bottom lip in a guilty conscience way. She knew this was a dead give away for her keeping something from him, but it was a force of habit.

"That is what I am trying to find out, my lady, but if you don't tell me the cause of your feelings toward your aunt, then I cannot keep my master safe from harm efficiently," he explained, looking down at her and down into her eyes, his grip on her tightening as he added in a growling voice, "So I advise you to tell me before I force you to."

Kimberly looked at him for a long time before forcing her chin out of his grip and pulling away from him, "Get off of me, Sebastian…" she growled out, trying to keep silent and figure out the right thing to do before spilling all her secrets to him. All the guilt and fear she felt caused by the woman who now took shelter inside the manor.

Her struggle was effortless as he only moved to force her against her bedroom wall, looking down at her, his eyes glowing fuchsia for a moment before returning to their crimson color and said in a voice that was gentle, not matching how roughly he held her to keep her from getting away again. "Tell me. Your brother could get hurt if you don't."

She found that struggling was futile, stopping with her struggling and thought over his words for a few moments before looking away from him and forcing a strong voice, "My aunt is a horrible woman. There is no doubt in my mind that Ciel needs to be protected from her…" she said, hoping this would satisfy Sebastian's need for knowledge, but when he kept her pinned, she knew he wanted to know everything.

"She is not to be trusted. My aunt was - is - a horrible woman, with a twisted sense of humor and a clouded vision, seeing the Phantomhive family as a despicable evil that needs to be cleansed from the world. She was like that ever since my Uncle died. She blamed his death on me and never treated me the same after his death…" she tried to relive the memories without emotion, but her voice betrayed her and her voice cracked from the tears she was holding back, "I was constantly told over and over again how much I was to blame for his death, even though I loved him. He was like a father to me when mine sent me away and then died. I was happy until he died, but when he did I was always to blame for everything that happened in the manor. Nothing could be a simple mistake or accident, nothing was simply the wind or even just an animal. Being punished brutally, I still have scars from when I was punished for even the stupidest of things." she said, seemingly finished. She still didn't look up at Sebastian when she said, "She needs to be destroyed. I will not allow her to harm the only true family I have left."

She lifted her face, tears having yet to fall down her cheeks. They still brimmed her eyes, on the verge of spilling over. Though she found that when she looked up, the unexpected happened. Sebastian's lips crashed into hers.

Her eyes widened as she realized what had just happened, too shocked to kiss him back at first, though she slowly found herself welcoming the love, wrapping her arms around him and closing her eyes, kissing him back as she felt his arms wrap around her.

 **((Sorry about not updating as quickly as I normally do, I hope you guys like this chapter, comment and favorite if you want!))**


	5. Chapter 5

**((Thank you for all the favorites and comments! You guys are awesome for continuing on reading this, I hope you enjoy this new chapter!))**

Kimberly sat on her bed, her legs dangling over the side. The warmth and tingling sensation from the kiss could still be felt over her lips. She moved her fingers to her lips to feel them, the ghost of his fingers still lingering over her sides and hips. She couldn't believe Sebastian had just kissed her out of the blue like that.

Although, she couldn't exactly understand why she kissed him back either, or why she enjoyed the kiss so much.

When Sebastian had pulled away from the kiss, he had apologized and quickly left the room without another word. She supposed she was thankful to him for not lingering around long enough for her to say anything she would regret. What she couldn't explain though, is that a _demon_ had kissed her out of the blue. Although it could have just been lust or something like that, but unless he had been ordered not to, he wouldn't have stopped with a kiss if that was the answer. Love could be ruled out. He was a demon, demons were incapable of loving another being. Lusting, yes. Loving, no.

She stayed that way for a long time, pondering about the meaning of the kiss and imagining it all over again, wishing she could kiss him again, wondering if she would get the same spark there was when he had kissed her. Whatever his motives were, she was grateful for them, they managed to take her away from the pain of her memories and pull her into a world where none of that mattered and she could be a young girl, fantasizing about being in love with her brother's butler, rather than being an adult and worrying about how her past will affect her life now that it has come back to hit her.

She was interrupted from her daydreaming when a timid knock on the door sounded. She barely felt her lips move, or remember deciding to answer it when she answered for them to enter the room.

Mey-Rin walked in with a smile, her glasses oddly making her eyes look bigger than they were. "My Lady? I was told to help you ready yourself for dinner," she announced, smiling still at her.

Kimberly only nodded and was ushered to the vanity by the young maid. Normally, Kimberly would talk with Mey-Rin, it was just something she enjoyed, having another girl to talk to, even if it was just her maid. But right now, she could hardly summon the energy to move, she wasn't sure how she could move around so fluently when told to by the maid. But eventually, by the time she could feel her limbs again, and felt like she was walking on air, she was all ready for dinner. She didn't know why she needed to get all fancied up for dinner, but then remembered how much Ciel liked to show off.

Whatever the reason, she was still wearing a dress. It was pretty and darker than what Elizabeth would try to put her in. It was a dark indigo color overall, with black lace and strings to the corset. She had small little designs over the dress that looked like black frost covering the dress. She thought it was a lovely dress, so tried not to complain much about it. Her hair was done differently as well, rather than in a braided crown, it was in a bun with braids seeming to swirl in and around it. It was simple, but she thought it was a grown up looking style, so she was happy with it. She turned and thanked Mey-Rin for her help before dismissing her and looking back at the mirror. She looked at herself in the mirror before plastering a smile onto her face and leaving the room, which wasn't as hard as she thought it would be, still giddy from the kiss from Sebastian.

She walked all the way to the dining room on her own, having walked the halls enough times to have created a mental mapped out route from her room to all kinds of places and vice versa. She entered and found that her aunt, Lady Elise, and Ciel were already there. She took her time crossing to the table, Sebastian pulling out the chair for her and pushing her towards the table when she took her seat. She nodded a thank you to him and glanced at Sebastian shyly, remembering the kiss once more and blushed softly and immediately turned her gaze from him to Ciel, just now registering that he had begun to talk.

"So, Lady Elise,-" he began

` "Oh please, none of this 'lady' talk. I am your aunt, why don't you refer to me as such?" she asked, smiling at him some more and made herself somehow seem nicer than she really was.

Ciel nodded slightly and went to correct himself, "Aunt Elise," he began once more, continuing when she gave him a small nod of approval, "I hope you have enjoyed my manor so far," he said, looking at her with a serious look, rather than one you would have when speaking to a family member.

She smiled at him and nodded, "Oh yes, but I am simply glad that I have been able to finally meet my youngest nephew." she said in a happy voice, then added, "and of course my darling little Kimmy."

Kimberly cringed at the nickname, but didn't tell her off for using it. She thought she noticed Sebastian narrow his eyes at her a bit, but when she glanced at him, she noticed he was still smiling and standing by Ciel's side. That was when Mey-Rin brought the cart full of food out for dinner. She was obviously nervous when she did it, but stood by the cart like she was about to announce what was being served when Sebastian interrupted. He announced some really fancy sounding dish and then served it all to us, Mey-Rin only barely managing to not spill any of the wine she served.

Beginning to eat, Kimberly wasn't aware of how much she missed the authentic french cuisine until right now, eating it once again. She wasn't sure how long dinner took but she knew that she wished she had a bigger stomach. She sighed softly once it had finished, and Kimberly stood up after Ciel, the way she always knew it was time to leave the room and go do whatever activities had been planned for after dinner. In Ciel's case, it was going to the entertainment room with their aunt and talking with her as she had requested. And in Kimberly's case, it was spying on them to make sure nothing fishy happened.

Ciel and their aunt moved on to the entertainment room to talk, aunt Elise smiling widely the whole way there while Ciel looked mildly glad. Kimberly remained one hallway behind them the whole time, just close enough to hear what they were saying. Everytime she moved to turn down a hallway, she could only see their heels as they rounded another corner until they successfully reached the entertainment room.

Kimberly heard the door shut behind them and stood just outside the door, listening in to try and see if she could catch any conversation. She was glad that she had pretty good hearing so she could hear their conversation well enough to form sentences.

"So, Aunt Elise," Ciel began, you could hear the hesitation to address her so casually in his voice, "Where have you been all this time?" he asked, she could hear him sitting down on one of the loveseats as he spoke to her.

"I was in France, of course. When Kimberly ran away, I was worried sick. My Darling little neice didn't have anywhere to go. I hired many, many people to search for her, but we never found her. I didn't want to leave my home in case she came home one day, so I never did. But one day, when my maids were cleaning out her room, they found the article that she had been sent by your mother's sister, saying that you were alive. I knew she had to be here, but I couldn't leave France until several months later. It was never my intention to remain a mystery to you." she said. Kimberly was sure Ciel believed the story, but without her face to make her feel bad for the woman, she could hear right through the woman, knowing that something had to have been going on that she wasn't telling.

"Hm. Well then, I am glad you have finally decided to visit us here at my manor," he said, his proud smile evident through his voice.

"Yes of course, but, one other thing," she began, but Kimberly wasn't able to listen in any longer, as she had felt a pair of hands close around her shoulders, pulling her back into a body.

"Eavesdropping does not become of you, my lady," Sebastian commented, smiling down at her, but it was an artificial one, like those he gave to our guests. He never smiled a genuine smile, not towards her at least.

"S-Sebastian!" she cried out, forgetting to be quiet and then clamped a hand over her mouth and said in a more hushed tone, "What on Earth are you doing sneaking up behind me like that?!" she whispered furiously, trying to stay as quiet as she could possibly be at the moment. She sighed some and frowned at him a bit, but it slowly faded when an apologetic look fell over Sebastian's face.

He placed a hand to his heart and gave her an 'I'm-sorry-will-you-forgive-me?' look. He looked down at her and cocked his head like the way a bird would do when it is trying to understand something better. "I apologize my lady," he said with a small pout placed carefully on his face, "will you forgive me for being so very rude?" he asked, though she knew he didn't mean the apology.

Though she sighed and had no other choice than to forgive him, "fine, but don't do it again," she said, looking away and slowly looked back over at the door, deciding to give up on listening into the conversation, as it would be impossible to understand where the conversation went after she was interrupted from listening in. She crossed her arms and turned back to Sebastian and looked up at him, blushing ever so softly as she was reminded of the kiss he gave her earlier that day. She couldn't stand to look at him whenever she thought about it, afraid her face would become so hot that it would burst into flames or she would say something she didn't want to.

However, Sebastian seemed to beat her to it. He looked down at her, not nearly as uncomfortable as her as he said with yet another fake smile, "My lady, would you mind if I have a word with you?" he asked, looking down at her and she swore he was trying to blush just from the small smile he gave her. If she didn't know any better, she would have described the look as sheepish.

She nodded a bit so that she wouldn't have to speak. She didn't trust her voice not to crack if she were to tell him he could, in fact, give her the answers she has been screaming for mentally. Sebastian lead her away from the hallway and down a hallway she had never wandered down. It was funny. This manor was so large, she could walk through it for days and still wouldn't have been in every hallway, every room, every trap door or compartment that might lead to another place entirely.

Just as she was beginning to get dizzy from all the twists and turns, Sebastian opened a door for her and gestured for her to enter the room. Of course, when she did, she looked around it and she had never seen a room so beautiful. So large. It was gorgeous, there were large windows that looked over the garden and the forest. Bay windows made it so that light shone in, not even needing candles in the room as the light from the moon and stars already filled it with so much natural light that it appeared to be fully bathed in light. There were black and blue drapes that hung on the windows, falling to the ground they were so elegantly long. The floor was marvelous even, hard wood polished until it gleamed and there was a large, deep blue rug that was placed in the very center of the room. The room held several seats, mainly couches and loveseats and all of them were a collection of deep blues and blacks. There were mirrors practically everywhere where there weren't windows.

Kimberly walked farther into the room looking around and taking in the marvelous designs in the chandelier she almost missed that was high above her head. There were beautiful designs in all the furniture that looked almost too small to see and she couldn't believe that this room, with it's gorgeous designs and beautiful decor, had been unseen by her curious eyes until this very moment.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Sebastian asked, his voice ringing through her ears and pulling her back to reality. She looked at him through the mirror in front of her rather than turning around and looking at him directly. She looked into his deep eyes that seemed to almost glow in the dim light of the room. He was walking slowly closer to her, just by mere inches, but she could still tell he was moving closer. She nodded in agreement to his question and waited for him to continue.

His expression changed from delightful to a mourned look. "My Lady, I would like to apologize more my behavior early today. It was uncalled for and I will take more care to keep myself from acting in such a way again." he said, apologizing for the kiss, most likely.

At this, Kimberly turned around instead of looking at him through the mirror and found that he was closer to her than she thought, but she didn't mind. She looked up into his mourned face and moved closer to him, looking into his eyes as though searching for something that wasn't there. Seeming to find what she was looking for, she took a careful step forward and cleared her throat slightly, just in case and began what she had been aching to tell him and before she could stop it, the words fell out faster than she wanted the to be voiced.

"Sebastian, you are a butler, the head butler no better. You are a demon, you are incapable of anything I might want from you and I understand that. Demons cannot love, only lust. They cannot mourn, or grieve; you cannot feel. I am not fully human and god only knows how badly I crave these feelings. I want to love, to hope, to be loved. But Sebastian, no matter how greatly I want you, or feel like I should be with you, I can't because I don't want to be the one to expect these emotions from you." she said, not allowing him to interrupt her, "I am an abomination, I am part demon and part human. Hybrids do not belong in the world and I am sad to say that you and Ciel are the only things holding me to Earth." she didn't know where all of this was coming from, but it felt amazing to get off her chest, so she continued her little speech. "After Ciel is gone, you will be gone, and I will no longer have a purpose in this world. My family will all be dead and I won't have anything any longer, so Sebastian, if demons can't love, why did you kiss me? Why did you pull me along like I might have some other purpose in this word other than to keep my brother safe? Why did you have to go and make me feel better than I should?" she asked, finishing her little rant. She glared up at him through blurry eyes as she had only just realized how twisted her mind was. Did she truly believe that she wasn't worth anything? That she didn't have a purpose in this world? She never really thought about, never wanting to.

She looked down at her feet and she thought that Sebastian would never answer her until she felt his arms wrap around her lovingly. She felt his lips press against the top of her head as she allowed herself to be engulfed in the comforting gesture. She slowly hugged him back and sniffled, clinging to him desperately. He held her close to his body, and they remained that way for a long time, or it felt like a long time. She didn't know why he was comforting her, what she said was true, demons can't love. But she still couldn't wrap her mind around it all.

Finally, Sebastian broke the silence and he said in a gentle tone in her ear, "Demons _do_ love. In fact, they love more than humans do. We feel every emotion you have and more, but the difference is that we feel in greater than you do, but we hide it better." he said, holding her closer. But only once thought stuck in her mind.

' _Demons_ do _love_.'

 **((Hey guys! Thank you so much for waiting so long for this update, I am really sorry for making you wait so long, but sadly, my parents banned me so yeah ^^" Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, another one will come soon!))**


	6. Chapter 6

**((Thanks for the positive feedback, you guys! I'm sorry this chapter took so long, but I hope that you like it! Tell me if there's anything I should change or anything so that you guys will continue to enjoy the story!))**

Kimberly couldn't believe the words Sebastian had just whispered to her. But the were heard and could not be unheard. Demons could love, or so he said. She pushed away from him, just slightly, so that she could look up at him in the eyes. She looked confused, biting her bottom lip gently.

"But… Sebastian, I thought demons couldn't love? That's why you and all the other demons I've ever met were so cold…" she said, still looking up into his crimson red eyes and feeling like she could melt into his arms at any moment.

He just smiled at her and shook his head, "No, in fact, we have stronger emotions than even humans. Our needs and our urges not only cause us to be extremely sinful, but also emotional." he explained a bit, and wrapped his arms a bit tighter around her, keeping her held close to him, "We don't show that we have emotions because it is easier to prey on souls that way. How can one become obsessed without first being in love and then becoming passionate about something? I know many demons who are obsessed with the soul they make a contract with, me being one of them," he said as though he was proud about being obsessed with Ciel's soul.

Kimberly slowly nodded and kept her own arms wrapped around him tightly. She wasn't very tall, her forehead came to his mouth but she still had to put her head in the crook of his neck instead of on his chest. She took in his scent, holding onto him as if she was afraid if she let go, she would blow away. The room around them gradually grew darker and lighter whenever clouds passed over the moon. Kimberly didn't want to move from that spot, loving the feeling of his arms around her. Though she still wasn't sure why she was so susceptible to the love and affection he was showing her. Yes, she had thought of him to be very attractive and very kind towards her - when she wasn't being scolded - but she didn't think that those feelings toward him, especially after merely two years, she could fall in love with the demon. But she decided to give it a try and sighed softly into his shoulder. She liked the feeling, even if she was confused by it.

After quite some time, they finally broke apart and Sebastian smiled down at her and held his hand out for her to take, "Shall I escort you back to my lord?" he asked, pulling her a bit closer when she accepted his hand and moved to hold the door open for her.

Kimberly smiled at him and nodded to him as a thank you and quickly walked out of the room, though she knew she would have to visit the room again, for it would be a while until she forgot the exquisite beauty of the room. She followed Sebastian closely as they walked through the maze of hallways once again. Though the only thing that could be heard was the clicking of their shoes on the floor, Kimberly still felt that the silence was welcoming, until something urged for her attention in the back of her head.

"Sebastian, we can't let Ciel know about any of this. Agreed?" she asked, not wanting to be told off by her brother. She found that it was none of his business what she did outside of being his sister. Besides, this would simply be one more secret she kept from him, not like she wasn't used to making up random excuses.

He nodded, his smile becoming more and more artificial the farther they moved through the halls and towards Ciel. But something made them jump, something that bounced off the walls and through the hallway that made Kimberly's heart speed up from surprise and Sebastian become much more alert.

It was a scream.

Immediately, Kimberly and Sebastian both took off down the hallway, Kimberly moving with him the best she could, but he was much faster than she was. She lost him when they rounded a few more corners and she tried to pick up on where she was in the labyrinth of corridors, but she had been taken to an entirely foreign part of the mansion by Sebastian. She had yet to explore this part of the manor. She turned around quickly to see if she could recognize any landmarks. A painting. A statue. A window even. But there was no way for her to tell where she was. She tried to run down the hallway again, to pick up on Sebastian's tracks but by then, he must have been long gone.

She jumped when she heard another scream, like the one she and Sebastian heard and tried to rush towards. This time, it was much louder than the other one. She knew she had to be close. She ran into a room she was sure the scream was coming from and stopped in her tracks the moment she arrived in the room the scream had been coming from. It was merely a sound recorder. She didn't even know they owned one. **((A/N: I checked, cylinder sound recorders were invented in the late 1870's))**

The door snapped shut behind her and she whirled around, expecting to face someone pulling a prank on her. But no one was there. Immediately, her heart began to race and although she was sure this was a simple joke, she was still becoming gradually more and more frightened. She backed away from the door a few steps and felt her back hit something strong and big. She tried to twist around to see who it was and was surprised by a large sack being shoved over her head. She tried to scream but a hand clamped over her mouth. She struggled and tried to escape the terrifying grip. She was being more and more scared and hysteric. Ideas of who on Earth would pull a prank so cruel, or trying to figure out whether or not this was no joke and actually someone kidnapping her. She tried to cry out for help but the only sound that escaped was a muffled cry. She could feel tears stinging at her eyes as she struggled, kicking, punching, shoving, clawing at anything that she could reach and was soon restrained. She felt her arms being forced behind her back and she was pushed against the wall, a deep voice she didn't recognize growling into her ear.

"Stop struggling or I'll blow your brains out, girl." the voice threatened, she felt a cold, hard object she recognized as the barrel of a gun being pushed into the back of her head.

She whimpered and tried to stop struggling, biting her bottom lip and tried to cry out again but felt the gun pushing harder into her skull.

She tried to collect her thoughts. Trying to find out whether or not she was being targeted because of something her brother did. Or maybe it was something she did when she went out in town. Or it could be something entirely different. _No_. She had to stay calm. She will never escape her captors if she remains panicked and foggy-headed. How can she escape? She could always wait for them to let their guard down and flee as fast as she can, but that might not even work. She couldn't believe any of this was happening.

She could hear her captors speaking to each other in a language she recognized. It was French. She tried to listen the best she could to try and translate their conversation. But with her head pounding and the sac muffling her hearing, she could only make out a few words. From what she put together, their mission was to kill Ciel Phantomhive, but they need her as bait. She was surprised she put that much together, but was at least glad that she did. Then she could at least know why she was being targeted.

She could feel the barrel of the gun being lifted from her head and almost sighed in relief, glad that she wasn't being held at gunpoint any longer. But the sigh got caught in her throat because she felt the gun coming back down and smashing into her head, and that was when everything went black. It all became dark.

The next thing Kimberly knew, she was lying on the ground, tied up with the bag still over her head. She tried to sit up, but it was no use. Her legs and arms were tied together with her arms behind her back. Her ankles were tied together so she couldn't make a run for it. The bag seemed to be tied on from around her neck. She whimpered and wished she could cradle her head as it began to throb when she tried to move.

"Oh look, the Phantomhive girl is awake." she heard a voice say, the smirk practically audible in their voice.

"Finally, I thought I might've killed her," another voice said, the same one that told her he would kill her if she didn't stop struggling.

"Whatever, we need to get this over with," a woman's voice said, "I want to go home and if we don't kill the boy, the Boss will kill us for sure."

That voice… It sounded so familiar. Like she had known in from a long time ago. She didn't want to try to think about it, though. It made her head hurt worse to think too hard about something.

She felt the bag being ripped off of her head and she was being picked up by her hair. Well, more of dragged by her hair. She squinted her eyes at first, the light from the candles in the room almost blinding. Kimberly whimpered and cried out a bit as she was dragged but was pulled into a wooden, unsteady chair. She glanced around the room she was in. It looked old and worn down. The curtains were drawn at the windows, which suggested being in a town or at least not wanting people to see the light from the candles through the windows. It smelled disgusting, like feces and urine. She gulped slightly when she actually glanced at the people who had taken her. They wore black masks over their faces and the men were tall and well built, though a couple of them looked freakishly strong. There were a few women, but they were much more narrowly built and didn't seem to have much muscle on them at all. She whimpered slightly and glanced sideways and saw a field telephone on a rickety old wooden table right beside her.

One of the women grinned maniacally and walked over to the telephone. "I think she's finally figured it out boys," without the sac on over her head, she could tell that the woman was clearly French, the accent, although well hidden, was still there. She picked up the telephone and put in a number and turned to Kimberly, "You are going to call your brother and talk to him for us. But you are to say exactly what we tell you to say, or lights out for you. Got it?" she asked, smirking down at her.

Kimberly nodded slowly, though she tried to seem like she wasn't intimidated by the woman, she was. She waited for someone to answer the phone as it was held up to her ear by the woman and a script was held in front of her face. She trembled slightly in her seat, afraid of what will happen to Ciel if she didn't warn him. The phone was answered and Sebastian's voice, sounding agitated and upset, answered.

"Phantomhive residence, how may I help you?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

Kimberly tried to make her voice sound strong but the fear of getting Ciel killed filled her with dread and her voice cracked and made her sound vulnerable. "Ciel Phantomhive is to meet in town square. He is to come alone," she winced at the cracked and squeaky sound of her voice and choked on a sob when she heard Sebastian's voice again.

"Kimberly? I mean, My Lady, what are you doing talking over the phone?" he tried to interrupt her, but she couldn't stop talking. If she did, she would get Ciel killed and herself killed.

"He is not to bring any protection from danger and will comply to every demand we have. Demands are: he is to come completely alone to the maid part in town, the square. He is to enter the carriage there that it pitch black and do everything he is told. He will comply to giving his captors a large sum of money, which will consist of no less than one million euros, and will then be free to leave. With him, he may have his sister, Kimberly Phantomhive. If any of these demands are not met, Kimberly Phantomhive will be killed," she choked a few more times on her own words and then began to sound more monotone when she herself was brought into the subject, "Ciel Phantomhive will be killed as well and every person connected to him will also be murdered." It sounded as though she was done, and she wish she was.

"My lady…" figuring out what was going on, Sebastian sighed and was about to say something else to her before she continued talking.

"The last day to comply to these commands is one week from now, on Sunday before midnight. Don't you worry either, we will provide plenty of evidence that we have miss Kimberly Phantomhive." she said and glanced up at the woman holding the phone to her ear and said quickly, before she could get shot for it, "Sebastian don't let him do it, it's a trap! They'll kill him!" and that was the last thing she could say before she was hit hard with the butt of the gun the woman held in her other hand and fell down with the chair to the ground. The compact of the gun hitting her jaw and her body hitting the floor shuddered through her, but the only noise she let out was a sudden, sharp cry.

"My lady?!" Sebastian could be heard through the phone, as the woman hadn't yet hung up. She growled and said into the phone, "Unless you want your darling, 'mistress' to remain alive, you might want to meet our demands quickly." and with that, the telephone was slammed back down and the woman walked over to Kimberly and sent a sharp kick to her stomach and grinned when she gasped slightly.

Kimberly growled and knew it would be a long week. She just hoped Sebastian listened to her when she said it was a trap. She knew she would be fine even if she was shot in the head. Yes, she would be badly wounded, but she would live just fine. She was, after all part demon. But Ciel is fully human, he would never live after getting shot, if Sebastian even allowed him to go alone.

She became numb after that. All she knew was that she was tied up and placed leaning against the corner of the room and a sack was once again placed over her head. She barely moved, breathed, or talked, not that she was allowed to talk anyways, she was being held at gunpoint again. It was frustrating on her behalf if her captors never rested, never slept or aimed their guns at something else. She might be able to get out of her situation if they did, but alas, there was no chance anything like that was going to happen any time soon.

 **((Thanks for reading again you guys! I'm sorry that this chapter is short but I'm actually writing fanfiction in secret at school. I'm not even allowed to roleplay either so I have to do that when my parents aren't looking too. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed and review please! It would mean a lot, of course you don't have to if you truly don't want to.))**


	7. Chapter 7

**((Thank you guys for the favorites and follows and everything! I really appreciate it! Thank you guys so much!))**

The second day of being in this stinky old room was no better. The men that were supposed to be watching her were getting bored. This was obvious as she could still hear them messing with their guns, but she could also hear them playing card games. She let out a sigh every now and then and enjoyed the rest she was getting. She would hum to herself every now and then and sometimes would get away with it, but was kicked when she was told to stop. She didn't mind being treated the way she was, no, she didn't like it, being kicked when she hummed or getting a gun pressed to her forehead when she spoke, but the hostility didn't alarm her the way it would most. She was a Phantomhive after all. After the initial shock wore off, she was no longer panicked and could think more clearly. She wasn't thinking about escaping though. It would be useless as she had only seen the room once and if the opportunity to escape opened, she would simply shift and make a run for it. There was nothing else to do. Instead, she thought about how she could save Ciel if he ordered Sebastian to stay behind or to stay out of the way.

This would be a direct violation of their contract, to put himself in danger and order Sebastian to do nothing about it, but it was something she could see her brother doing. She would do the same thing, so it must have been a family thing, she supposed. But she always ended up not thinking about saving her brother and instead thinking about what she was going to do the next time she was alone with Sebastian. She figured she would probably be comforted by him while she cried, it was probably the most realistic thing she could think of, as she was probably one step less of a cry baby than Elizabeth. But she didn't cry when she was told no, the way Elizabeth did.

But it felt nice to daydream about how strong she would act for Sebastian, how she would kiss him and thank him for saving her, or helping Ciel save her. For saving Ciel and trying to forget about the fact that Sebastian would soon be killing Ciel by eating his soul. But she tried her hardest to forget these things. It was Ciel's fault for making a contract, she would try to convince herself not to feel guilty for falling in love with Sebastian. But she couldn't stop the guilt from eating away at her insides and from climbing from her stomach through her chest and clawing at her throat and demanding for her attention. Merely thinking about the subject made her insides crawl and she had to fight back a whimper or tears.

She took a deep breath to calm herself down and sighed softly as she tried to straighten up where she was positioned.

"Hey, Phantomhive, you trying not to cry again or something?" a man asked, just by the way his words slurred she could tell he was drunk. She sighed and tried to ignore him, but she heard the chair move on the floor, the sound enough to make her cringe. She could tell he was standing up, and could hear, not to mention feel, his footsteps walking towards her. She felt the sack getting ripped from her head and looked up at him, trying to keep a straight face so that he wouldn't know how badly she wanted to rip his head off.

She knew she failed when she heard him say, "What's with that face? C'mon! If you're going to make a face at me when I talk to you, you might as well speak too!" he shouted, laughing when he kneeled down and got on one knee to look at her and she could tell from where his eyes went that he was eyeing the bruise forming on her jaw from where she was hit with the butt of that gun.

She growled a bit, her stubborn and rebellious nature showing. She glared at him and spit on his cheek, smirking with satisfaction when his face contorted. He stood up and kicked her hard in the stomach, growling and smirking at the pain he was causing her. She gasped when she felt the first blow and cried out accidentally. The second blow was more painful than shocking. She whimpered, but didn't move her eyes from his, still glaring at him. As "punishment" for looking directly at him, he kicked her again hard and then slammed his foot down on her head, but not had enough to cause any real damage.

This caused her to cry out again. She quickly averted her eyes and growled a bit, trying not to look directly at him again. She had made that mistake already and she could already feel a headache coming on.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" questioned the woman from earlier. She was walking in from another room and was just now realizing the situation. Kimberly was laying on the ground, blood drops on her lips. She had her arms and legs tied behind her back and the man had his foot on top of her head, holding it to the ground.

"Uh, she looked at me funny, I figured I would teach her a lesson for it." he said, looking at her, though the look on his face made it obvious that he wasn't supposed to hurt her without permission.

"And what did I tell you about harming her without permission? You don't have the authority to harm her. I, however, do. You know that very few people right now have that privilege." she said, moving closer and closer until her feet her right in front of Kimberly's face. The man slowly moved his foot from her head and set her up right. She growled a bit and looked at him with a smug look, which was warranted with another hard kick to the stomach. She growled, this time the kick was from the woman.

"Fine, whatever…" he said and picked up his gun and the bottle of whiskey he was drinking. He took a swig of the liquid, allowing his throat to be set on fire and fighting back a glare at his authority figure. "How much longer do we have to wait? I'm bored as all hell of waiting for the Phantomhive brat to come."

"Five days at the most, Elise said that she was confident he would come to save his bratty sister," she said, making the name sound like it was casual. But to Kimberly the name stuck out like a sore thumb. She knew her aunt was a bad woman. But what she didn't know was that she would kill her own nephew. There was no reason to do so.

Kimberly's eyes widened at the sound of the name, "Elise? Elise Phantomhive?" she asked, but was awarded with a hard kick to the stomach, "You don't need to know any information. So don't ask for it."

Kimberly growled and knew that she had to get out. She had to warn Ciel that their aunt was behind all of this. From then on, she would begin to orchestrate her plan to get out of her captor's hands. Out of the place they were holding her in. They replaced the sack over her head again, but that didn't stop her from attempting to escape. Throughout the next four days, she had tried several times to escape. On the fifth day, she knew she had to do it. It was Sunday. She had to save Ciel as best as she could. But it was already about an hour before midnight. At least that's what everyone kept muttering to each other. She could hear guns being loaded and shined and taken apart and then put back together. She frowned at the thought of being shot. She had been shot once, and it didn't feel very nice. But, she knew that it would probably happen anyways.

She waited, trying to break the rope without being noticed but failed several times at doing so. She stopped whenever she felt like she was being watched and stopped, frowning inwardly and waiting for the feeling to go away, but was soon becoming sure that the feeling was merely paranoia. She could hear a clock ticking down the time left for her. But she was sure it was just all in her mind. She was absolutely sure that there was no clock in the room the last time the sack was off of her head. But of course, it wouldn't surprise her.

She hadn't noticed the changes in her own personality, but they were there. She was more alert; the tiniest noises that escaped and entered her ears made her sit up straighter, as if panicked something was going to happen. Whenever she was spoke to, her voice would crack and sound defeated. Her eyes seemed to hollow, losing the spark they once held. She would try to make herself seem smaller whenever the guards got drunk, or came close to her, having been kicked so many times she could taste the blood in her mouth still, even though it wasn't there and her wounds had healed. Even though these changes only happened in a matter of a week, it was to be expected of someone who already had a past with such abuse, who had already suffered from the harshness. She had acted this way only once before, and that was when her aunt had first began to accuse her of it being her fault her uncle had died. She couldn't stop herself from the behavior, however, even though she was nevered in much pain for long, it was all in her head that made her think she was still hurt physically.

"Dammit!" she heard a shout and a slam of the door she suspected was the front door of the shabby old building. "That damned Phantomhive brat didn't show up tonight either!" it was a man's voice. She could hear his heavy footsteps marching towards her, she whimpered slightly and tried to push herself against the wall and seem as small as she could make herself.

She heard a woman's voice, recognizing it as the woman who had fist slammed the butt of her gun into her jaw, "Calm down, we still have another half an hour until we get to kill the girl. If you guys want to, you can get to torturing her again. Except this time, when it hits midnight, she will be shown mercy. She will be killed. Got it, boys?" the woman announced.

That was another thing that had happened to her while she was being captured by these people. She was being tortured every night Ciel didn't show up. It was something they did mainly to take pictures of her bloodied up, mangled body and they would develop the pictures before sending them to Ciel, just to rub it in his face that it was his fault she was getting hurt. But this time, she was just glad they would finally let her go. Of course, they didn't know they would be letting her go, but a bullet to the head wouldn't kill her.

She whimpered as she felt the sack getting ripped from her head once again and then quickly blindfolded. She was placed in her usual chair that she was always sat in when they needed her for something. They tied her in place and then pulled out several items that Kimberly could not recognize. She whimpered and knew that the pain would be temporary, but that didn't stop her from dreading it. She hated pain, she had been through enough of it to last her a life time but still, she knew that it wasn't over. She could hear the mental clock tick down until her time to be shot and tried to block out the thoughts of at any moment, she would feel the cold, sharp knife slice into her skin. It was practically a routine for them. First came the knife, then came the alcohol that they rubbed into the wounds they had already made. They did whatever they wanted really. They stick her feet in a bucket of eels, they brand her, though not with anything specific, just with a random iron. They whipped her, they did anything they could do that wouldn't kill her. She was just glad they would shoot her soon, and when they left, she could be on her way.

Suddenly, though, the torture stopped, and so did her screams. She panted softly and felt the blindfold coming off. She blinked a few times, tears still in her eyes from the pain and looked up at the woman who was to execute her. She tried to summon a strong face, but with how submissive she had become while being held hostage, it was more difficult to do than if she still acted the same.

The woman placed the barrel of the gun on her cheek and pressed in, grinning and obviously just trying to get a reaction from her, "Well, first is you, next up, the Phantomhive brat, don't worry you'll be reunited with him soon enough," she said in a sing song voice.

Kimberly didn't know what happened next. She heard a shot, a sharp, painful wound, and everything went black.

 **((Thanks for sticking with me guys, I'm sorry for the rant in the 5th chapter, but I just couldn't stand being harassed because someone decided they didn't like my character. Anyways, thank you, I hope you stick around for the next chapter!))**


	8. Chapter 8

**((Thanks for all the favorites, you guys, it really helps a lot and makes me want to actually continue the story for you all!))**

Everything was black, her senses were on fire and she had to stop herself from screaming from the sudden pain in her chest. She could feel the bullet wound in her rib cage, she could feel the blood from the wound pouring from her chest and the area that was penetrated and even all around it was throbbing.

However, through the ringing in her head, she was glad to hear her previous captors freaking out and leaving the building they had kept her in. Once she was sure that no one was left inside the building and she was completely alone, she opened one eye, and then the next. The light that flooded in through the windows was dim, not giving her much light to work with. She groaned when she tried to move, the throbbing getting worse and could feel herself sticky with her own blood. All of her torture wounds had healed to mere scratches by then, but like all the other wounds, they were sure to leave her body quickly. She summoned the strength to force her arm to move, positioning her fingers right above the shot wound.

She made her fingertips touch, making her hand form a sort of triangle, which when she put more pressure on the wound, helped to push her hand deeper into the wound. She cried out in pain but knew it would only be worse if she didn't get the bullet out and the wound remained open. Pushing farther in, her body felt like it was filled with led and that led had been covered in gasoline and set on fire. She screamed in pain as she managed to grab ahold of the bullet and yanked it out as quickly as she could, not even bothering with being gentle with herself. She just wanted the thing out.

Panting heavily, she laid there on the ground, pushing the heels of her palms into her eyes and trying to think clearly. She needed to think. Think. Think. Think.

The next thing they were going to do is kill Ciel. She couldn't let that happen. But she can't fight being so wounded. Sebastian can surely hold them off, the other three seem to be rather efficient as well when given the right tools. She tried to think of what she needed to do next. It isn't to save Ciel. It isn't to stop her former captors from getting to the manor, they are surely already there. It is to expose her aunt for who she is.

Her aunt. That wretched woman. There was no time for emotions and thoughts of how cruel her aunt was is. She sat up slowly, still in a considerable amount of pain, but she couldn't back down yet. She still had to get to the manor and find out where her aunt was.

With a few cries of pain and several groans, she managed to stand up, still soaked in her own blood, she hated to be seen this way, covered in blood, but it was the only way she could be seen. She shakily walked towards the front door of the building she now recognized as a shut-down office building. She exited, glancing around and was glad that it was still night. The sun had not come up yet, which was good for her, if sunrise was any time soon, she might have been seens exiting an old shut-down office building covered in blood. That in itself warrants a trip to the Scotland Yard.

She unsteadily began to make her way towards the manor. With each step, it was growing easier to walk and soon enough, by the time she had made it out of town, she was running down the dirt road as fast as she could towards the manor. She didn't know what she was going to do when she arrived, but she knew she had to take care of her aunt. But when she grew closer to the manor, she could hear screams and gun shots. She simply hoped it was the screams of the men, instead of the three loyal servants they had. She slowed down only slightly, so that it was a fast, but normal speed for a human. She continued to run, being seen by several of the men and even by Mey-Rin, but it seems that there wasn't any problem with it as she managed to run just past the men and into the manor's side door.

She panted softly, she wasn't as fast as Sebastian and she definitely was not as durable. She tried to walk as quickly as she could through the hallways without attracting much attention to herself. She knew that there had to be at least a few of her former guards and maybe even that woman inside. She hurried for Ciel's room first. It was so late at night, she knew that the most logical place to look for him would be there. As she was heading there, she found no trace of anything suspicious, which she found highly odd. If he was here, wouldn't there be signs of struggling? Or at least their stench from the death Sebastian would have given them. However, no signs of any life living in the manor had come to her attention. As she neared Ciel's room, she knew that there had to be something going on. It had to be a trap of some kind. But as she entered Ciel's room slowly, she creeped inside slowly and saw that the window was open. She studied the scene she had walked into.

Sebastian was glaring at a woman dressed in all black, wearing a woman's suit and a black mask over her face. Ciel was being held by the woman, a knife to his throat and his face a monotonous look, like he didn't care whether his throat was slit or not. Kimberly took a few more steps into the room and glared at the woman, sure that it was Elise, wanting to rid the world of Ciel herself.

"One step closer and he's toast." the woman said, glancing at Kimberly and even through her masked face, you could see the shock and terror written on her face. Her face grew hard after a few moments of making the face and glared at her. "How are you alive?!" she yelled at her, though was sure to keep a firm hold on Ciel.

Sebastian, although his eyes said otherwise, looked like he was ready to snap anyone's neck who interfered. His eyes told her that he was glad she got out safely, "Well, it seems your lackey missed my head. She didn't even hit my heart. If you don't shoot vital areas, how are you supposed to kill someone?" she asked with a sly grin, trying to piss the woman off, hoping she would move her attention to her and Sebastian could get Ciel safely.

"My lackey? Dear girl, I am the one who shot you! I shot you straight through the chest and waited until you lost more than a pint of blood until I left you for dead! Now the only thing that suggests you were hurt at all is the hole in your dress and the blood soaking you!" she yelled, glaring at her. Kimberly's plan was working, now all she needed was for Sebastian to take the chance.

However, Kimberly knew that she had to ignore the look of shock in Ciel's eyes (as he had been ripped straight from bed and he didn't exactly wear his eyepatch to bed with him). She kept her glare on the woman and smirked at her, "Oh yeah? I would have been dead if that had happened," she said calmly, noticing Sebastian catch on.

Right as the woman was about to say something back, he grabbed Ciel and threw him into Kimberly's arms and pushed the woman back against the wall with Sebastian's hand on her throat, choking her. Kimberly got down on her knees and held Ciel as if he was still just a child, which to her he was. She held the back of his head and kept him from watching Sebastian choke the woman, keeping him held close as she glared at the scene.

Ciel, however, being as independent as always, pushed her away and stood next to her rather than in her arms and watched as Sebastian forced the life from her eyes. Though he couldn't stand to watch him kill her, as he stopped him from doing so, "Sebastian! Don't kill that woman, we need her for questioning!" he yelled at him, glaring and putting on his best brave face. Though anyone who knew better knew that he was just trying to seem strong, not wanting to be looked down on.

Sebastian hesitated for a second, then let the woman fall to her hands and knees, coughing and gasping for air like a sputtering idiot. She coughed and her hands went around her throat, as if Sebastian still had his hands there and she had to get them off. Ciel walked over to the woman and looked down at her in disgust. "Tie her up, Sebastian and bring her into my study." he ordered Sebastian before turning around and walking back towards Kimberly.

Sebastian nodded and bowed low to him, then stood and forced the woman to stand, grabbing her by both wrists behind her back and shoved her forward and out of the room. Kimberly moved to follow him, but was stopped by Ciel.

"Kimberly, I want to talk to you before the questioning begins. Wait outside for me." he said, grabbing an outfit Sebastian already had laid out for that day.

She smiled and nodded, leaving the room, shutting the door behind her and leaning against the door. She waited for him to come out, but her smile faded into a worried look. She couldn't have Ciel finding out she was part demon. He would never look at her the same way again. But of course, being covered in blood and someone claiming to have shot you just earlier doesn't help either. Eventually, Ciel left his room and entered the hallway and turned to Kimberly who gave a small laugh. His bow only had one loop, his buttons were on the wrong way, his shoes weren't tied properly. Kimberly knelt down, smiling softly at the dependent boy and fixed his bow first, tying it properly so that both loops were symmetrical and she was satisfied with it. She then unbuttoned his shirt and redid the buttons, then moved down to the shoes and tied them to her best extent - which she thought was rather good.

Ciel was blushing deeply and frowned at her help, acting like he didn't need it. Then he quickly changed the subject onto her, rather than being embarrassed that he couldn't properly dress himself. He cleared his throat and looked at her dead on, "Kimberly, I want to know what that woman was saying. Was it true?" he asked, frowning at her.

Kimberly smiled nervously and tried to change to subject, "which part? Ciel, why don't we talk about this some other time, hm?" she asked, wanting desperately to put off the conversation.

"No. You need to tell me, Kimberly. I want to know if she really did shoot you and watch you die." he practically commanded her. His voice was strict but monotone, frowning up at her and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well… I…" she tried to think of an excuse, but one didn't come to mind and Ciel refused to put off the conversation any longer, "No, Ciel. She was lying. The woman is obviously insane, I mean, she tried to murder the Queen's guard dog. No, when they left, I screamed for help and lucky for me, someone was walking by and heard me. They helped me to escape." she said, lying through her teeth.

Once again, she was lying to her brother's face. She hated doing it, it was wrong and she knew that it shouldn't be done. But there was no way she would be able to explain why she didn't tell him sooner she was part demon. She sighed and smiled some at him, trying to make it seem more realistic.

Ciel seemed to think this over, but didn't seem to buy it. He frowned and nodded slowly, still not finding it to be very truthful, but he didn't push on. Instead, he sighed and turned around, beginning to walk through the hallway and toward the woman he was to question. He had to find out why she attacked him. What her motives were and who her boss was. Kimberly followed him, wanting to see Sebastian, even if she just made eye contact with him, it would be like heaven to her.

She wanted to be alone with Sebastian, but she knew that there wasn't any time currently to do so. She hated that fact, but knew that she couldn't change it. At least not right now she couldn't. She sighed and followed Ciel closely behind and entered the study.

She glanced at Sebastian, meeting eyes for a few seconds before quickly looking away bashfully. She focused her eyes on the woman, who had her mask off now and you could see her features. She was actually quite pretty, she had dark brown hair and caramel colored eyes. Her lips looked full and pink and she had high cheek bones. Though the frown on her face made her features look more manly rather than the beauty that she naturally had.

"Now then," Ciel began, standing in front of the woman, "Why don't you start by telling me who your boss is."

 **((Thank you guys for all the reads and favorites! I hope you enjoyed and I'm glad you stuck with me during this chapter!))**


	9. Chapter 9

**((Thanks for the comments and favorites, you guys! I'm glad that you like the story!))**

The woman, who was now known as Collette Chevalier, spit on the ground, glaring up at Ciel and Kimberly. They had been trying to get the name of her boss for about an hour now and Ciel was beginning to yawn. It seemed fitting that he was so tired, of course. He was woken up in the middle of the night and almost killed by a woman he didn't even know.

Kimberly noticed a well-suppressed yawn and smiled down at him a bit, her expression changing entirely from glaring and being upset with the woman, to looking down upon her little brother with a soft, kind look. A look filled with love.

"Ciel, if you like, I can finish this for you. Or we can hold it off for tomorrow if you like. You need your rest," she said, placing a gentle hand on top of his head. It was odd, the way she was acting now seemed so different from when she was being held hostage. But of course this was a common thing. Unless angry with him, she normally hid her emotions from her brother well enough.

Ciel remained silent for a few moments, then sighed and nodded, "Fine, we will finish this in the morning. Sebastian, make sure she doesn't escape."

Sebastian bowed low to Ciel and placed a hand lightly over his heart, "Of course, my lord. I will do everything in my power to keep Miss Chevalier under the Phantomhive custody."

"Ha! You think you can keep me under this roof? You must be delusional then!" she shouted, grinning madly at Ciel and barely even trying to escape the binds. She obviously wasn't the most sane woman, but it was all they had to try and get information from. If they don't watch her carefully enough, she might bite off her own tongue to make sure she doesn't say anything about whoever it is she was working for.

Sebastian sent a sharp glare in the woman's way and Ciel just sighed, placing a hand at the bridge of his nose in a weary way. "Sebastian, ready me for bed," he said in a tired way,raking a hand through his already messy dark hair. The same color his father had.

Kimberly watched with a loving look of approval as Sebastian lead Ciel out of the study and towards his bedroom. As soon as the door shut behind them, though, Kimberly's face returned to a tired, stony look. It was quite a change in expression - peaceful and tranquil to a weary look in a matter of seconds. She turned to the woman who sat, staring - no. Glaring at her.

"What are you?" she demanded, glaring at her with eyes filled with confusion and anger. "A freak? A monster? How did you survive that?!" she yelled at her, more anger showing in her voice this time.

"What am I?" yes, the names did hurt, but at the moment they were minor wounds. Merely a slap on the wrist compared to the anger and frustration she had building up inside of her. "What am I?" she asked again, though with more force to her words.

"I am the girl who you kidnapped. Who you tortured. Who you tried to kill," she said, keeping her voice steady. She knew the tactic all too well. Keep yourself calm and steady - don't yell. It will make you much more intimidating. She kept this scare tactic as she continued with, "And I am also the girl who is going to kill you." she said, her expression filled to the brim with a calculating cold stare. One she perfected over the years to match that of her aunt.

The woman didn't seem at all intimidated by her threat, instead she began to laugh. Making Kimberly feel rather stupid for threatening her in the first place. Though she made sure not to look the look until the woman's laughing had died down and all that was left of the maniacal cackling was poorly suppressed giggles.

Sebastian entered the study once more only minutes later. By then, Kimberly was no longer able to keep the stare steady and instead she was staring blankly at the door, waiting for Sebastian to rescue her from the room.

"My lady, you should rest up as well," he advised, smiling softly at her and for once, she found herself happy to see that artificial smile he used in front of guests.

Slowly, she nodded and walked forward a bit, taking a few steps before regaining her full strength and walking confidently out of the room and stepping into the hallway with Sebastian, glad that the moment he shut that door, they would be alone.

She heard the door click shut and immediately felt herself spun around and being held in Sebastian's arms. Instead of being kissed, as she had imagined, though, he began checking for any scratches or wounds of any kind, a concerned look on his face that Kimberly had never seen directed at her before. He was moving her jaw around so that he could make sure she had no wounds on her neck or face, then moving to her arms and to the bullet hole on her chest. His fingers brushed gently over the deep bruise that was still there, as she didn't heal as fast as a full demon would. He glanced up at her face, seriousness and worry mixing together to make an odd look on him.

"Sebastian," she said firmly, looking at him and moving her hands to cup his jaw, "I'm fine. Alright? I'm all healed up, so there's no need to worry," she said, managing a steady voice. Though her eyes must have told another story because Sebastian didn't lift the concerned look.

"I know you're alright, but that doesn't mean I can't make sure," he said, stopping with his frantic making sure she was ok and kissed her forehead gently but firmly, "I would have come to save you. I would have, but if I was gone for very long, my lord might have gotten suspicious of where I had gone," he admitted, shame clear when he moved his eyes from hers for a split second before returning.

Kimberly simply shook her head and wrapped her arms around his chest and pulled herself closer to him. She hid her face in his tailcoat and was sure that the blood soaking her reeked, but she couldn't bring herself to part from him. She felt his arms slowly wrapping around her small body. She was much more frail than she was before she was kidnapped. She was a lot more submissive. Normally, she would have yelled at him for not rescuing her, but now she just sort of accepted the fact that he couldn't. However, Sebastian remained silent about the topic, despite the question swimming in his mind about it.

They remained that way for a while. Kimberly didn't want to let go, and neither did Sebastian. Though eventually, Kimberly could no longer stand. Being half human, she could at least sleep. And although her need for sleep was considerably less, she had never felt more tired than she did then. She pulled one arm from around Sebastian and rubbed her eye, a signal she was becoming tired.

Taking this as she needed sleep, Sebastian smiled down at her and picked her up bridal style and began carrying her towards her room. "A lady needs her rest, lest she fall asleep in the middle of a lecture," he teased her, smiling some and looking ahead as he carried her.

Kimberly frowned up at him slightly, but didn't argue. She simply wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes slowly. She was sure she wouldn't have any good dreams. She never does. But she couldn't simply not sleep. She tried that while being held hostage. Of course, though, sleep was nice once and a while.

She smiled softly as her mind brought her to different pleasant memories, many containing her mother, or her uncle. Some even of Ciel when they were very, very young. She was awoken from her thoughts by the feeling of something soft but cold touching her back. Bringing her back to reality, she realized she was being set down on her bed. Her grip on Sebastian tightened and she pulled him closer, refusing to let him go. The way a child would do when they want their parent to stay with them.

"My lady, I cannot stay. I must make sure our informant does not escape," he said in a soft voice, a voice one probably shouldn't use when speaking of holding someone captive against their will and making sure they don't escape.

However, Kimberly didn't listen to one word he said and didn't let go. She whimpered softly, half awake and half asleep, "Sebastian…" she mumbled, "don't… don't leave me. You can't go too. You can't…" she whimpered out, making it clear that she wasn't about to let go.

With a soft sigh and a sad chuckle, Sebastian laid her down and sat on the side of her bed beside her and gently pet her hair, "Shh, love," he whispered to her, trying to calm her down the best he could, "shh. I'm right here, I won't go anywhere…" he said soothingly.

Kimberly calmed down and cuddled into the pillow. Sebastian pulled the blanket over her and remained by her side until he was sure that she had fallen asleep. When he saw that her breathing was normal and the look on her face was calm and tranquil, he kissed her gently on the forehead and whispered three words to her, smiling down at the dark haired beauty.

" _Goodnight, my Love_."

 **((Sorry about how short this chapter is! It was meant to be a filler so trust me, I should be able to make the next chapter much longer! Anyways, I filled this chapter with some feels, so I hope you guys liked it!))**


	10. Chapter 10

**((Thanks so much for all the love in my last chapter! Once again, I'm so sorry about the last chapter being so short! I hope you guys enjoy this one to make up for it!))**

" _Mama! Papa! Look what I found!" a young girl, around the age of three cried out with joy. She was giggling and running up to a lovely looking couple._

 _The young girl looked vaguely familiar; long black hair that fell straight down her back. Bright, oddly colored eyes. Her skin was pale, complimenting her other features as well. When she tried to focus on the couple, though, everything blurred and she couldn't remember a thing. She couldn't think of a hair color, or eye color, or even a name._

" _Look! Look!" the little girl exclaimed, excitement covering her face as she smiled brightly up at the two. She seemed to be holding up a four-leafed clover, giggling at the find. Once again, though, when she attempted to focus on the couple, she couldn't find the faintest memory of who they were._

" _That's amazing, Darling," the man said, though she couldn't recognize any exact voice. She couldn't tell whether the voice was high or deep, if it was kind or harsh. But she could faintly remember the light smile the man had on his face when he smiled at the girl._

 _But wait a moment. Remember? What was there to remember?_

 _Everything flashed, black surrounded the little girl and the couple was gone. When the scene changed back, she saw that the woman was no longer there. Only the man, blood splattered over him and where the woman had been standing._

 _The little girl took a few steps back, shock covering her face. "Papa? Mama?" she called out questioningly. The girl looked around, as if lost even though just moments ago she was filled with joy and running to the couple. She skimmed right past her, but she was sure that she saw her. She was there, wasn't she? She had to be, right?_

 _The look on the girl's face was familiar. The shock, the hurt, she fright. She realized now. This girl was her. She remembered it all now. She could feel something hot and sticky covering her body. She was no longer looking at the girl, but she seemed to be her. She placed a shaky hand on her cheek to feel whatever it was dripping down her face, but when she pulled her fingers away to get a good look, the sticky substance was not there. But she was sure she had felt something…_

 _She looked down at her body and screamed when she did. There was blood covering her. Not just any blood, though, when she looked down, she could see all of those she cared for. Her mother, father, uncle, brother, everyone. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. She took a few more steps back, still looking down at the bodies and trying to scream. She tripped over something and cried out, though silence still met her ears. She looked up slowly, feeling there was someone in front of her. When she did though, she saw a man. Someone rather handsome. He had pitch black hair, pale skin, and crimson eyes. His smile though, that was the best part of his appearance. It was so bright, so big and it seemed so loving. All she could do is stare. But soon, her stare was unwelcome and the man began to walk forward. He moved towards her, standing right in front of her and glaring down at her._

" _My lady. My lady, get up." he said, though the voice didn't seem to come from him. It sounded as though it was in her head, like she imagined the voice. She couldn't seem to pinpoint any specific location to where the voice had come from, "My lady, you must get up." It was getting louder now, and each time it ordered her to get up, it got louder._

 _She tried to back away from the man, hoping the voice would get quieter, but she couldn't make it stop. She screamed and screamed, trying to make the voice leave her alone but it wouldn't stop until everything suddenly went black._

"My lady! You must wake up! You're having a nightmare!" wailed a familiar voice. The voice of their maid. The Phantomhive maid.

Kimberly opened her eyes with much difficulty and whimpered slightly, "Mey-Rin, stop shouting, please…" she asked her maid, touching her palm to her head as she slowly rose from her bed.

Light was flooding into the room from the windows, the curtains were open. She shielded her eyes from the light and sighed a bit as she waved off several frantic apologies from the maid.

"My goodness!" cried the maid, seeing how horribly frail Kimberly looked. She still hadn't washed out the blood from her hair or changed her clothes. She was sure she looked horrible.

"Mey-Rin, not so loud, please," she said again, her patience beginning to run dry. She glanced the maid over and saw that she was worried for her and she faked a smile for the young woman.

"O-Of course, my lady," she said, quieter this time, "My lord has told me you are in need of a bath." she said, attempting not to sound rude.

"Yes, yes, I am. Would you mind helping me, Mey-Rin?" she asked, attempting to stand on her own, but she was still weak and having just woken up, she wasn't very able at the moment.

"Of course, my lady," Mey-Rin chimed happily and helped Kimberly towards the bathing area.

~~~ Skipping Because of Awkward Reasons ~~~

Kimberly smiled lightly as she was helped with her dress. She had to wear a corset, and she found it rather hard to breathe in them. She gripped the foot of her bedpost and was holding her breath, sucking her stomach in to make it easier. She generally wore corsets tighter than most, just so that the satisfaction of taking them off at the end of the day would feel that much better. She released her breath when the young maid gave her the signal that she finished tightening the corset and just needed to finish with the gown itself.

The dress was well-made, a deep blue velvet with silk layers fell with grace down and past her ankles. The bottom of the dress lightly brushed the floor, but only enough to look elegant. The silk was a lighter blue, but it contrasted well with the velvet. The corset she wore was black, however, and the dress had sleeves that moved through the corset and hung loosely on her arms, the cuffs clinging tightly to her wrists. Like Ciel, she wore a ring. Unlike Ciel, she only wore one and it was her mother's ring. It was a simple silver band with an amethyst surrounded by several small diamonds. She always fibbed to Ciel that it was given to her by her uncle, but her father had found it in the remnants of the fire.

She admired the ring for a few more seconds before allowing Mey-Rin to lead her to the vanity and begin with her hair and makeup. She didn't notice what Mey-Rin was doing to her hair, too busy with staring in amazement and horror at how hollow she looked. When she did bother to pay attention, she found that she was being told a few pieces of news. She wasn't sure if she needed to know it all, but she hadn't heard most of it so she decided it was better not to ask for her to repeat it. If Mey-Rin knew it, it was most likely minor news, like whether or not they were to go to town that day and whatnot.

She saw that Mey-Rin put her hair in a simple fishtail braid, which gave her a look of messy elegance; she liked it. Once Mey-Rin was done, she smiled and stood, turning to her and thanking her for her help. To which she was told not to worry and bowed to several times before Mey-Rin quickly left the room. She wasn't nearly as harsh to the servants as Ciel, so she wasn't sure why she was held so high in their eyes, but she certainly didn't complain. She didn't know why, but she felt like she was respected with how careful they were around her, despite her efforts to be kind to them.

She looked at herself in the mirror for a bit longer before leaving the room. She shut her door behind her with a soft click and began to walk towards Ciel's study. She hadn't forgotten last night. She remembered every bit of it clearly, which scared her a bit. She knew Ciel had been attacked, that she had almost been too late. She knew that the woman who held her captive and tried to kill her was still under Ciel's custody and was being held captive herself for information. She shuddered at the thought. Then her thoughts moved to what happened after Ciel went to bed and she found her face growing a bit hotter. She smiled softly at the thought of the way Sebastian held her, how concerned he was for her wellbeing. She was glad she had finally seen the side of Sebastian she had once only imagined was there. But the thought of Sebastian also brought the memory of her dream. It was so vivid, even now after all this time has passed, she could remember it as if she had lived through the dream. The thought of seeing everyone she cared for, everyone she loved dead on the ground; she couldn't suppress a shudder and could feel goosebumps crawling over her skin.

On the side, though, she knew it was a dream. Dreams aren't real and she knew that; she knew it all too well. She continued forward down the hall, making turns she knew would lead her to her destination; and they did. No screams, no music, no talking, nothing that indicated life on the other side of that door. Which is exactly why she jumped when she went to knock on the door, and a voice came up behind her. But this voice was not one she enjoyed hearing. It wasn't the low, smooth voice of Sebastian's. Instead, it was the high, strict voice of the woman she despised most.

"Oh Kimmy, Darling!" she was spun around to face the woman, her cold blue eyes lightening and her blond hair making her look less like a woman and more like a girl. She was pulled into a hug that she didn't dare return, "I was _so_ worried for you!"

The thought of seeing the woman pacing in a room, looking worried and a mess over her almost made her laugh. She suppressed the strong urge, though, and kept her arms by her side until the woman pulled away from her. She faked a confused look and was about to question why she didn't return the affection when Kimberly finally lost control over her own movements and raised a hand, barely even feeling the strong sting when her palm connected to the woman's cheek.

"How _dare_ you?" Kimberly heard her voice hiss at the woman, but didn't remember deciding to say anything. The look of rage on her face must have been enough to frighten the woman, because she didn't move to slap her back or yell at her. Her voice lowered and she took a step towards her aunt, "I know it was you. You hired those people to kill Ciel and me. You had better be glad that little minion of yours hasn't blabbed yet. My brother and I don't take kindly to people who attempt to kill us."

Visibly noticing what was going on, Elise smirked a bit, though still held her dark look. Before Kimberly could move, her hand grabbed Kimberly by the braid and forced her to move her face closer, lowering her voice as well, "Well then it's a good thing your little precious brother won't be with us for much longer, isn't it?" she said, smirk growing wider once she saw the look of pain mixed with fear and worry in Kimberly's eyes, "You think I was going to stop there? Oh no, my little minions won't speak because I'm not the one they got their orders from directly. No one is going to find out Kimmy, but then again, you're confused. You're more traumatized now than you ever have been. You won't know what you're saying. No one will ever believe you even if you did try to rat me out." she said, her grin growing darker.

However, the moment the sound of footsteps came, Elise let go of Kimberly's hair and went back to her smiling, sweet self. She smiled at the direction of the footsteps and saw that it was Ciel, Sebastian trailing closely behind him. Kimberly found herself forcing on a smile, directing it at their general direction, but forgot who she originally was smiling for.

Elise was a powerful woman. She knew this; but she couldn't simply let her kill Ciel. She couldn't.

She would rather die herself before ever letting anything bad happen to Ciel. She already vowed to herself that she would never let anything happen to him ever again. However, she seemed to find herself failing.

Ciel drew closer and raised an eyebrow at the two women, "Am I missing something? Why on Earth are you two smiling so much?" he asked, looking between the two, though stood in front of them.

"No reason, Ciel," Kimberly said, her smile faltering a bit, "I simply figured with what happened last night, if you couldn't smile, I might as well do it for you, hm?" she said, trying to come up with something on the spot.

Ciel obviously didn't buy it, but nodded and moved past the two and entered his study, Sebastian trailing closely behind, glancing slightly between Kimberly and Elise. Though when Ciel entered, he stopped before he even got halfway to his desk.

Curious to why Ciel stopped so quickly, Kimberly entered behind him and her eyes widened slightly when she saw what Ciel did. The woman from the previous night; Kimberly's previous captor and their informant, was slumped against the back of the chair. Her eyes were rolled back, her jaw opened wide. Her throat had been slit open, the evidence was all the blood covering her and the large wound on her throat. Her skin looked cold and her body stiff. The only way to even get close enough to proving Elise was behind all this, was now dead.

 **((Sorry this was so short, you guys! I know I promised for longer, but I really tried! DX Tell me what you guys think. Good? Bad? Anything helps!))**


	11. Chapter 11

**((Thanks for all the encouragement guys! I really appreciate it! It helps a lot with the way I view the story or my writing at all. But I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story!))**

Ciel had his face in his hands, obviously trying to think through what had happened. He had figured he would be able to solve this situation quickly and efficiently. On his own and without Sebastian's help in getting the information out of the woman. Though the next thing he knew, the woman was dead and tied up in his study.

Kimberly watched her brother, feeling bad for him. She loved her little brother, she didn't want him to feel so stressed out. Plus the feeling of guilt, that she knew who was trying to kill him and couldn't bring herself to tell him who was eating her alive. She knew Sebastian would believe her. But she didn't know what kind of lies Ciel had been told to properly place the doubt needed to get away with the scheme. She kept glancing at him as she stood by the window, staring outside at the garden. She loved the view Ciel had in his study. She loved the way the garden looked so cut off from the forest surrounding the property. It reminded her of Ciel and her. Ciel was like the garden, though having seen many things, kept safe from the outside world. The forest, with it's luring sense of danger, reminded her of herself. Keeping the lies and the dangers away from the garden, away from her brother, the best she could.

She glanced at Ciel again and saw that instead of trying to think, he was writing. Curiosity getting the better of her, she leaned over his shoulder to read what he was writing, though she wasn't sure she was exactly right she had read his writing correctly. So far, his parchment wrote:

'Lady Elizabeth Midford,

As you are surely aware, I am not one to host balls or anything else of the sort. Which is why I am in need of your help. I wish to host a ball, though I am dumbfounded on how to make the ball one will never forget. My lady, not only do I wish for you to help me to make the ball magnificent, I also wish for you to attend the ball as my personal guest.'

Ciel surely wasn't serious, was he? She cleared her throat slightly, "A ball Ciel? You hate balls," Kimberly said, frowning slightly. She didn't understand Ciel sometimes, but right at the moment, she didn't understand his motives.

"Yes, a ball," he said, glancing up at Kimberly, "think about it. If someone is trying to kill me, the best way to remain safe until the culprit is caught is not to isolate myself, but to keep myself surrounded by people. Besides, Elizabeth should be happy with the request. She's been complaining a lot; this should get her to stop," he answered, trying to justify his reasoning for wanting to host a ball.

Kimberly still wasn't sure his logic was completely foolproof, but she didn't say anything. Anyone who wanted to murder him could simply come to the ball anyways and find a way to get him alone. Besides, a ball wouldn't help him to stop a killer if the killer he is trying to stop is around him most of the time already.

However, she still couldn't bring herself to tell him Elise was the killer. She knew her aunt had been right. Ciel would see her as troubled. That she had suffered a great deal of trauma and didn't know what she was saying. For the next few days, Elizabeth had stayed over at the manor, planning the ball mostly by herself. She had arranged things on her own and still found a way to follow her around, chastising her about not wearing enough pink and how she should wear cuter clothing.

Kimberly simply smiled and nodded the way she had for a long time when it came to her cousin. That is, until the day of the ball. The morning came and Kimberly hadn't slept a wink all night. She didn't need the sleep, but it would have been nice. Instead of sleeping, she lay awake, trying to find loopholes in Elise's logic. Though nothing came to mind, she decided to confide in Sebastian about what Elise had told her.

For most of the day, Kimberly wandered the corridors, trying to keep her distance from the rest of the residents in the home. However, by the time the sun began to lower past the trees, she knew it was time to ready herself for the ball. She followed the hallways she knew back to her room and opened it to find Mey-Rin busying herself with pulling out a gorgeous gown(A/N: This but a deep purple and black, I'm afraid I can't properly describe the dress). She slowly entered the room and cleared her throat, which caused the young maid to jump in surprise.

"Oh! Miss Kimberly!" she exclaimed, a bright smile lighting up her face as she turned to her, "My lord has ordered me to help you prepare for the ball," she explained, bowing a bit to her and then placing the gown on the foot of Kimberly's bed.

"Thank you, Mey-Rin," Kimberly thanked her, walking forward into the room, shutting the door behind her and moving towards the dress to admire it. She was quickly helped into the dress, though it was too frilly for her taste, she figured Elizabeth had picked it out for her and would throw a world-class tantrum if she didn't wear it. It did look rather good on her, however, as she looked at herself in the mirror. She saw that the color managed to bring out her eyes. The color normally caused her eyes to look black, but with the color of the dress, it made their color pop.

She was sat down at the vanity. It seemed to be a routine the two had, dressed first, then hair, then makeup. But Kimberly always daydreamed when the maid worked on her hair. Despite the clumsiness of the girl, she did her hair rather well. Only when she finished with both hair and makeup did she really take a good look at the way her hair was done. (Once again, I'm too lazy to fully describe right now)

Smiling, Kimberly turned to the red-headed maid and thanked her. She then quickly exited the room and walked down the hall. She knew that the ball had yet to begin, despite it becoming rather dark outside. So, due to the this fact, she decided she would find Sebastian and tell him about what Elise had told her.

Unsure of what Sebastian would say to her after she informed him of this news, she moved on to Ciel's study where he was sure to be, finishing up work before the ball. And wherever Ciel was, she was sure to find Sebastian nearby.

However, upon entering the study, she found that the room was completely empty. She saw through the windows that the first snowfall of the season had begun. In the sliver of light that streamed in through the open door, she peered into the room, checking for any sign of where Ciel had gone off to. Finding nothing, she decided to try in the ballroom. Elizabeth was probably all ready and finished last bits of decoration. She shuddered at the thought of how pink and girly the ballroom most likely looked.

Deciding to skip looking for him in the ballroom, she moved down the hall to his bedroom. He might still be getting ready for the ball. She walked down the empty hallway, finding that it was abnormally quiet. Especially since there was a ball about to take place in the manor. She moved forward, frowning at the silence a bit. The last time she walked these halls in silence, she had found Ciel about to be killed.

Though immediately this thought vanished from her thoughts when she saw the sliver of light coming from the crack under his door to his bedroom. A small smile appeared on her face as she imagined what Elizabeth had picked out for him. She knocked on the door and stood in silence once again.

"Ciel, it's just me. Are you alright? Our guests will be here any minute now…" she said, calling out to him through the door. Silence greeted her ears and her heart dropped down to her stomach. Her mind began thinking of the worst. What if he was about to be killed again? What if Elise had gotten to him? What if he had gotten hurt and couldn't call for help?

However, her imagination proved to have gotten away from her, as the door opened, revealing a smiling Sebastian and a grim looking Ciel. Ciel looked up at Kimberly and raised an eyebrow, "What's the matter with you? You look as though you've seen a ghost."

"Oh, it's nothing, Ciel," she lied smoothly. She wasn't about to say she was imagining what had happened to him because he wasn't answering her and she was being paranoid. She took a step back to allow him room to leave the room, so he did, followed closely by Sebastian.

Kimberly couldn't hold back a slight blush as she felt Sebastian's eyes upon her. She knew he had seen right through her and could tell she wasn't saying something, but she couldn't say anything with Ciel right there, "Come on, Ciel, let's go see what Elizabeth has done to the ballroom," she said, trying to move things along and hurry to the ball. She wanted to get it over with; she hated large groups of people, and hated it even more when she had to be social with said large groups of people.

Ciel nodded in agreement and together they hurried through the corridor to greet their guests who were sure to arrive any minute now. However, even with the snow beginning to fall and starting to fall harder, guests still arrived. Men and women of all titles showed up. Some bringing children, others simply arriving to forget they have children for a while. Ciel and Kimberly greeted each one individually and quite honestly, Kimberly was glad when the last of their guests arrived.

Ciel was dragged into a dance with Elizabeth, Kimberly watched them. She was glad that Ciel was smiling, even if it was fake, at least she knew he wanted to be happy. She took a sip of the wine she had, biting her bottom lip gently as she glanced over the many people. She wasn't searching for anyone in particular, but she was glad when she spotted Sebastian not too far from her. She casually moved over to him and glanced up at him.

"Sebastian, I need to speak with you for a moment," she said under her breath, glancing around before meeting his eyes. As soon as she saw him nod at her, she turned and began to walk towards a hallway. It was dark, which didn't make much of a difference to her. She had already explored this hallway, so she knew it like the back of her hand. She walked down it, hoping no one saw them sneak away and when she was sure no one would hear them, she spun around on her heel and looked up at Sebastian.

"Sebastian, I need to tell you something very important," she began, waiting for him to nod that he understood before continuing, "I also need you to understand that this is _not_ because of my past that I have come to this conclusion," she said, once again waiting for him to nod and then moved on, "Well… I have reason to believe Elise - my aunt - is the one who set up my captors to kill Ciel," she said hesitantly.

Things were silent for a moment or two until Sebastian smiled down at her, "Kimberly, my lady - my love, my lord and I are already aware of this. We overheard Lady Elise confessing this to you. I apologizing for not informing you of this earlier, but my lord ordered me not to speak of this to you. He did not want to cause your trauma to make this any worse."

Kimberly frowned at this and looked up at Sebastian suspiciously, "Sebastian…" she said slowly, but forgot what she was about to say. She could no longer remember when the shrill scream of a woman sounded down the hall, back where they came.

 **((Hey guys! Thanks so much for the support and comments! I really appreciate it! I hope you liked this chapter, I will have the next one up soon!))**


	12. Chapter 12

**((Thanks for the favorites from last chapter, you guys! Sorry again for it not being the longest chapter or being the most descriptive, I'm suffering from really bad writer's block. I hope this chapter is any good!))**

Kimberly's full attention was on the location of the scream. She couldn't remember what they were talking about or what she was about to say. Memories of when she was kidnapped right after going towards the scream flooded her mind and she struggled to stand. She leaned against the wall and watched as someone dressed in black ran towards the screaming.

Someone dressed in people who took her were dressed in black. Was the person who just ran past her one of her captors? No. She was sure this man wasn't; though she couldn't remember who he was. She put both hands over her face and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember where she was.

She was in a corridor in her brother's manor. She was at a ball.

She hesitantly pulled her hands away from her face to glance around her to make sure this was true. She was in a dark corridor. Looking one way, she could see nothing else but more darkness that lead down the hall. Looking the other way, she saw light flooding into the entrance to the corridor and figured that the ball must be that way.

She tried to walk down the hallway to the entrance, but found that she was dizzy. She swayed a bit and ended up only getting a few feet away from her original spot. Her head was buzzing. Who was she again? She couldn't remember. She looked down at her own hands and tried to blink away the dizziness. It didn't work so she closed her eyes tightly and tried to remember who she was.

Her name was Kimberly Phantomhive. Her mother and father were both dead, leaving her alone with her younger brother. Who was he again? Ciel. Ciel Phantomhive. She could remember a bit more now. She opened her eyes and tried to look around again and found that her head still spun but she was no longer dizzy. She walked down the corridor towards the entrance, then sped up and ran towards it.

Emerging at once in the large, brightly lit room, the first thing she noticed was the people around her. She didn't recognize anyone until she saw a woman in a blue gown. She had her blonde hair up and her blue eyes looked like everything but concern was held in them. She looked around more and tried to squeeze through the crowd, avoiding elbows and shoulders that jabbed towards her. She made her way to the front of the crowd and gasped at what she saw.

There were a few men in the middle, holding guns. They held harsh expressions on their face. She looked up at the stairs and the balconies and saw that there were more men holding guns, looking ready to shoot at any given moment. Accompanying the men in the middle of the crowd was a tall man in a tailcoat. The name Sebastian Michealis came to mind and she remembered him instantly. He was standing by Ciel's side, more shielding him that anything.

"Move it Buddy!" one of the men with guns said, he had a goatee. He was speaking to Sebastian, glaring at him, "We're here for the twerp!"

Sebastian smiled and placed a hand to his chest. His smile was artificial, but how could he smile genuinely at a time like this? "I apologize, sir, but if I step aside, you are going to shoot my young master. As a Phantomhive butler, I cannot simply allow my young lord or any welcomed into Phantomhive hospitality to get hurt. I do hope you understand my dilemma."

"Enough talking! If you won't move, I will just have to shoot you too!" the man yelled, moving to aim the gun he was holding at Sebastian. He moved his finger to the trigger and squeezed. But to his surprise, the only thing that came from the gun was a clicking sound.

"It seems you have forgotten to add bullets to your gun," Sebastian said with a slight hint of glee in his voice. He was obviously proud of something, and that something was probably disarming the gun.

"W-Wha-?" the man exclaimed in surprise, glaring at the man. He growled and nodded to the man at his side.

The man beside him had a stern look on his face and faced Sebastian, "One move and I will order every man I have to shoot you down in your tracks! Hand over the boy!" he yelled, his voice steady, unwavering.

The room remained silent for many moments. Within those moments, the tension in the room was killing just about every person in the ballroom. Suspense, confusion, fear, it all formed together like one giant emotion. No one in the hall moved, talked, there was absolute silence. You couldn't even hear the people breathing. Half of the probably held their breath.

Kimberly fought a mental battle. Should she get involved? It was her brother, if she didn't get involved he could get seriously hurt. But if she did, she would have no way of explaining anything. She had no plan and normally when that happened, her emotions formed on without her thinking about it. She couldn't just stand here and watch everything go down, either. She loved Sebastian. She loved her brother. She wasn't about to stand here and watch them get hurt or risk their lives; even though Sebastian couldn't exactly die from mere bullets.

She made her decision, she was going to get involved. Even without a plan, she was sure something would come to mind the way it always did. "Sebastian! Get him out of here!" She yelled at him, breaking the long silence. Her voice rung through the room, the surprise that anyone said anything ran through the men. But before they could formulate what to do, Sebastian was already carrying Ciel out of the ballroom and down the nearest corridor. Kimberly ran out of the crowd and into the clearing, meaning to follow Sebastian to help, but something in her mind already knew what was really going to happen. Why she really ran away from the safety of the crowd instead of through it where she could still have some sort of cover.

Everything was a blur. The moment she stepped out of the crowd, guns began to go off. They didn't aim for anyone or anything specific, they just shot anywhere into the crowd, hoping to hit someone or something. She heard screams, many of them. People rushed around, trying to get out of the line of fire, panicking and trying to move towards the nearest exit.

Kimberly kept running, trying to make it to the corridor Sebastian took Ciel to, but she had to push through many people, which resulted in her getting pushed out of the way. She was elbowed randomly, stepped on, pushed down. It was mere luck that she got out of the tangled crowd, but there wasn't much luck in what had happened just after she made it out of the crowd. A sharp sting in her shoulder pushed her back, though she stumbled, she managed not to fall. She lifted a hand to her right shoulder and saw blood covering her fingers when she pulled them away. Her mind began to buzz again, she got dizzy too. She couldn't remember what she was doing or what was going on. Why couldn't she remember anything? She remembered stumbling back more and being pushed back into the crowd where she was pushed around more and finally she was on the ground. Her body felt like led. She remembered she had felt this way before. This feeling was familiar, but where had she felt it before?

When she was shot back when she was being held hostage. She had felt this way then. But she got up that time, why couldn't she do it again this time? She heard shouts and saw blurred people rushing to her. At first they just tried to help her up, but she couldn't will her limbs to move on her command. She felt her body being picked up. She felt the sharp sting of her shoulder being pushed on. But after that, everything dulled. Voices grew quieter, her vision blurred worse, the pain she felt began to numb and she slowly drifted off into the darkness.

' _Where am I?' she thought to herself, looking around in the darkness. She was standing, but where she was standing was the big mystery. Everything around her was black - pitch black. Nothing could be seen in any direction._

 _A large light seemed to be over her, like a stage light. She looked down at herself, looking at her hands. They were pale, trembling. She was wearing a long white gown that went well past her feet. She then realized she wasn't wearing shoes. But even when she looked down, it was like she was hovering in mid-air, because that too was pitch black._

 _Just then, she looked forward. Another light flicked on and Ciel stood under it. Her heart rate sped up from the surprise and she immediately ran towards him. But just as soon as she was about to reach the light shining over him, she stopped. She had no other choice since a large wall was making a barrier in between them. She waved and trying to slam her fists on the barrier, but nothing worked to get his attention for even a moment. Something else lit up only a few meters away from Ciel. Another light shone over a new figure, this figure was tall with remarkable crimson eyes - Sebastian._

 _Kimberly ran towards him as well, but was stopped when she noticed the barrier keeping them apart. She once again tried to call out for him. She slammed her fists on the barrier and tried to get his attention just the way she tried to with Ciel. Nothing worked though._

 _Once again, another figure caught her attention - another tall man. Though this man had more upper body mass than Sebastian. It was obvious he had muscle, but hadn't worked on himself in a while, so he had a small pudge. His smile was wide - warm, welcoming, kind. His eyes, a caramel brown, were warm and filled with happiness. His greying black hair suited him handsomely. Then it hit her. It was her Uncle._

 _She ran to him, but once more there was a barrier separating her from him. She screamed out in frustration, though there was no sound. She banged on the barrier, crying out his name and trying to get him to notice her. There was no hope; he looked as though there was no one screaming for him, banging on anything, or trying to get him to notice them._

 _Another light lit up - this one larger than the rest. She didn't want to turn around to see who else wouldn't notice her. But curiosity got too strong and she turned around slowly, her eyes widening for a moment before tears filled them and she had to try and blink them away. Her hands went over her mouth as she saw that before her, her mother and father stood there, under the light. She froze for a moment, not sure if they would hear her if she tried to call out for them. They were talking happily, her mother with her long black hair and her violet eyes smiling merrily in the company of her father. Her father looked just as handsome as ever - his dark hair Ciel had inherited, his brown eyes that welcomed you into his arms._

 _Slowly, hesitantly, she moved forward. She knew that her parents wouldn't see her. The others didn't. Why would they? She grew closer and she could have sworn she saw her mother glance in her direction. But it must have just been her hopeful imagination. She moved closer and closer slowly. Until she was right in front of the barrier that kept them apart. Tears flooded her eyes and she screamed out in frustration. She cried and slammed her fists on the barrier, trying to break through it desperately. Slowly she fell to her knees, like she couldn't bare to lift her fist again._

" _Kimmy. Kimmy, sweetie, don't cry," she heard. That voice though, it was impossible to be heard. She slowly lifted her head up to look at the figure of her mother and father and saw that her father was no longer there. She looked around and saw that everything else was black too. No other bodies or barriers or lights could be seen. She looked back up at her mother and saw that it was indeed her mother who was talking to her, "Sweetie, don't cry. Everything is going to be alright." she said, kneeling down next to her and pulling her into her arms. "Shh, Shh… Mother is here now, don't fret. I won't let anything happen to you," she said in a kind, motherly tone, "I will forever keep you safe from harm."_

 _Kimberly couldn't stop her tears. She clung to the figure of her mother and cried into her shoulder, "Mother!" was all she could say. There was so much she wanted to say to her, but there was no way she could properly formulate a sentence with how much she was crying. As soon as her sobs turned to sniffles, she clung to her and said in a low, almost nonexistent whisper, "Where were you, mum? Mum, I'm so sorry… I didn't keep any of them safe… None of them… I love you mum..."_

" _I love you too, Sweetie," was all she heard from her mother's voice when everything suddenly disappeared and a bright light shone into her eyes, forcing her eyes open again._

 **((Hey guys! Sorry for not updating quicker, I won't be able to update this weekend, but I should be able to get a new chapter up by next week! Comment, favorite, whatever you want to do!))**


	13. Chapter 13

**((Sorry about the last chapter being so dramatic, a friend suggested to me to make it more dramatic and leave more cliffhangers, so I tried it. Not sure if I'm very good at it though.))**

"Mother!" she cried, sitting straight up in bed with unfallen tears slipping silently down her cheeks. She glanced around the room, her breathing a bit irregular. She was in her room, the light flooding in from the bits of her curtain that hadn't been drawn. Her room was in semi-darkness, she couldn't think properly. That was when the pain kicked in and she groaned. Why was there so much pain? Wasn't the wound supposed to heal by now? It was obviously the next day, right?

She slowly laid herself back down, but as soon as her head hit her pillow, her door slammed open and her eyes widened a bit from the temporary shock of the noise. Mey-Rin, Bardroy, and Finnian - the three loyal servants of the Phantomhive household - burst into the room, Mey-Rin and Finnian near to tears and Bardroy looking only mildly worried. Kimberly looked over at them and sighed a bit. Mey-Rin went to her side immediately.

"My lady, are you alright?" she asked, her eyes wide and full of concern. She turned to the other two, "go tell Mister Sebastian!" she yelled at them, which made Finnian take off quickly and Bardroy announce he was going to go make her something to eat.

Kimberly nodded slowly, "Mey-Rin… how long have I been out?" she asked, feeling weak all of a sudden, her throat so dry that she could hardly talk. She already knew she wasn't going to like the answer, but she had to know. There was no time for saying she was alright when she knew she wasn't.

"Well, my lady, you were seriously hurt," she started, smiling nervously before finally saying, "You have been in bed for over a month…" she said, trying to smile so that Kimberly wouldn't freak out so bad.

However, the gesture was useless. Kimberly's eyes widened and she looked down at her hands. In a coma for over a month? How was that possible? Sebastian entered the room and shood Mey-Rin out, telling her to go clean something while he saw to her. Kimberly hardly noticed the change though. The faint click of her door being shut brought her back and she looked up at Sebastian with a helpless look.

"Sebastian… was I really asleep for that long?" she asked, unsure whether or not she could fully believe what Mey-Rin had told her.

She saw Sebastian's eyes look into hers for a while, before he slowly nodded. Her heart raced, how could she have been asleep for so long? What even happened? Was Ciel alright? She whimpered at the thought and felt her head beginning to pound. She looked down at her blanket-covered lap and frowned a bit. She winced at the still in her shoulder and her hand went slowly to her shoulder and immediately the question came to her. Why was she still in pain if she had been asleep for a month?

"Sebastian? Why does my shoulder hurt?" she asked, not looking up at him. Her tone didn't seem to change either, which she found odd. She simply wasn't acting the way she normally would.

Even though she didn't look directly at him, she could see out of her peripheral vision that Sebastian became rigid. Taking this as a sign for bad news, she braced herself quickly, "I am not sure, my lady. However, it seems the demonic side of you has retreated. Moving back into your innermost side of your subconscious. What happened at the ball, or whatever you saw while asleep must have forced it to leave you not only helpless against wounds, but also seemed to have unmasked your soul," he explained.

Kimberly had a hard time following the explanation and frowned, looking up at him, "So what that means is… I'm just a human? But Sebastian, how is that possible? I was _born_ half demon!" she said, forcing herself to keep her voice down in case of eavesdropping.

Sebastian simply shook his head, "That is what I'm not sure of. It doesn't make sense, but it does seem to be our only guess," he said, placing a hand over hers gently. She looked up at him and smiled softly, taking her free hand and placing it on his cheek, leaning up and kissing him gently.

She smiled at the warm feeling that spread through her body, as if someone just broke an egg over her head - only instead of a cold feeling it felt almost hot. She shuddered slightly from it and smiled a little more, kissing him deeper. Eventually, though, she pulled away from the kiss - with good timing too. Ciel walked into the room just as she had pulled her hand away and before she even knew what was going on, Sebastian's hand was over her forehead.

"Hmm," he hummed, smiling reassuringly at her, "Your fever seems to have gone down considerably, my lady," he said with a smile. He straightened himself and bowed towards her, then towards Ciel, "My lord, I apologize for not collecting you personally." he apologized, somehow forcing a sincerely guilty look.

However, Ciel didn't bother to pay attention to how sincere it looked. He knew he was a demon and that he couldn't trust him. He turned to Kimberly and sighed, "You will need to catch up on many things that seemed to have happened within the time you have not been with us. Once you have made yourself more suitable, meet me in my study," he said, not even bothering to waste any breath on asking whether or not she was okay. She watched him turn around and leave and frowned slightly, unsure of what to think about the way he was suddenly alright with everything that had just happened. Hadn't she been asleep for over a month? Had he been ok with it all from the beginning? She just didn't understand her brother sometimes.

As soon as the door shut, Kimberly let a breath she didn't know she was holding out. She looked up at Sebastian, "has he been this cranky the whole time?" she asked, biting her bottom lip and sighed when she saw Sebastian nod a yes. She ran a hand through her hair, cringing at how greasy it had gotten.

"Sebastian, do you mind sending for mey-Rin? I have a feeling Ciel might get even more upset if I don't hurry," she said, looking up at him and into her eyes and wished she didn't have to hurry. She wished she could simply take her time and stay with Sebastian for as long as she wanted, but she knew that wasn't likely. To add to that, she would never be able to spend so much time with Sebastian and keep their relationship a secret too.

Sebastian nodded and smiled at her, "Of course, _my lady_ ," he teased, smiling more and kissed her forehead before straightening up and leaving the room, Kimberly watching him the whole way. She let out a small laugh at how girlish she acted around him. It was almost sickening. As much as she loved him, she still didn't want to be seen as weak, so she knew she would have to act much more independant. She pulled her covers off of her legs and maneuvered them to the side of the bed. She decided to at least try and do something on her own before her maid arrived to help her. However, her plan seemed to go wrong before she could even walk. When she went to stand up, her knees buckled under her and she collapsed on the floor. She gasped sharply as she fell on her shoulder and whimpered a bit. She definitely was not used to this kind of pain. However, the pain wasn't too sharp. It was more stiff and hard to move than it was if she had an open wound. But if she was healing like a human, there was no way a shot wound could have healed in a month. Finding this fishy, she tried to push herself up off the ground and only managed to stand when Mey-Rin entered the room and rushed over to help her.

Now she was sitting in a tub full of hot, soapy water and getting her scalp massaged. The feeling of her hair being washed felt like heaven to her, she loved it and couldn't get enough. But soon enough, she found herself being dried off and helped to walk around a bit before she was being put into a new gown. She hadn't worn it before, but it was a nice color. It was a lavender color with a corset, only the corset hooked instead of tied in the back, so it was much easier to breath in. She looked at herself in the mirror, she looked hollow. Her cheeks looked hollow, her eyes looked hollow, she could see her bones and she looked highly unhealthy. However, she was alive, so she was thankful for that. The dress she wore made her look as though she still had curves, when really her body was so bony, she looked like a skeleton trying on skin. She bit her bottom lip and looked over the design. There were vertical, thin, black strips of lace going up the skirt of the gown and moving into the corset, which looked the same, but instead of being lavender, it was black with lavender lace. She liked the way it looked on her. By the time her hair and makeup had been finished, her cheeks no longer looked hollow, but instead looked full and rosy, her eye color popped and she looked more healthy than she felt.

"Thank you, Mey-Rin," she thanked the maid, smiling at her. She was glad that the servants at least would try to help her. However, she seemed to have a more womanly look to her instead of the childish look she used to have before everything went black.

Mey-Rin smiled and bowed at her, then lead her to Ciel's study, making sure she didn't fall or stumble down the stairs. Upon entering the room, however, Kimberly felt her stomach drop. The atmosphere of the room was so different from the last time she was in the room. She walked over to Ciel's desk and noticed how much older he looked. His jaw line had elongated, his eyes seemed to have more wisdom in them, he was taller and looked more like his father than Kimberly thought possible for his age. She bit her lip and glanced over him for a few more minutes before speaking up.

"Ciel? You wanted to speak to me, right?" she asked, looking at him with a small smile on her face. She didn't feel like smiling, but figured the kind gesture was appropriate with the way he was acting. He seemed to be so much colder than before, but it also was like he was missing a large portion of himself.

"Yes, I did. I wanted to make sure you understood everything that has happened while you were unable to be with us," he said, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk. Kimberly took a seat and listened to him as he explained things she was sure she had already known. Nevertheless she listened to him. Nodding in understanding to show him she was still listening. However, she couldn't help but to allow her mind to wander and to wonder what it was she felt he was missing. She just couldn't place the feeling, though. It was something in his eye, it was like he had lost something, but what it was couldn't be pinpointed.

"Kimberly! Are you even listening?" he asked impatiently, frowning at her. Quickly she nodded and began to listen to him more intently, though the question remained in the back of her mind, "Now, the Earl Trancy is going to be visiting the manor today, so he should be arriving any moment now," he finished up his explanation.

Wait. Who was the Earl Trancy? Oh well, probably just some sort of business partner Ciel met while she was out of it. She'd have to ask Sebastian about it later. Though, there wasn't much time to ask him as a knock came from the door and a nervous Mey-Rin poked her head into the room and announced the arrival of Earl Alois Trancy.

Ciel stood up to leave, Kimberly following his lead. However, it seems that Mr. Trancy didn't want to stay where he was told to be and burst into the study. For a moment, Kimberly was sure Elizabeth had cut her hair short and her voice grew slightly deeper, because a blur of blonde and purple ran past her and leaned over the desk excitedly.

"Why hello there, Ciel~!" called a rather excited young man. He seemed to be around Ciel's age and was only slightly taller than him, though she was sure this was only because of the heeled boots he was wearing. He seemed to have completely blocked out the fact that Kimberly was in the room with them, that is until Ciel cleared his throat to greet the young blonde boy.

The boy turned a bit and saw Kimberly and his face brightened, a wide grin spreading across his face. He looked up at Kimberly, though he could have easily reached the middle of her forearm. Grabbing her hand, he kissed her knuckles, still smiling, "Why hello there," he greeted her as Kimberly retracted her hand from his, "I believe we have yet to meet. I am the Earl Alois Trancy. You are?" he asked, his bright blue eyes sparkling in well-concealed interest.

Alois Trancy? But this boy was so young! "Her name is Kimberly Phantomhive. She is my older sister, Mr. Trancy," Ciel said for her. He moved from behind his desk and to Kimberly's side, looking at Alois and trying not to let the height difference bug him.

Kimberly got the hint and knew that Ciel would rather keep her out of the conversations with Alois, "Ciel," she said, turning to her brother, "It seems I will be late for my lesson if I don't hurry. I apologize sincerely to leave after just meeting, Sir Trancy," she said, nodding towards Aois, "but I really must hurry," she finished and turned on her heel and allowed Sebastian to hold the door open for her and follow her out of the room. Though she was sure she felt Alois' butler watching her, which led her to be sure she saw Sebastian shoot a small glare at him before leaving the room.

Kimberly lowered her voice and turned around to face Sebastian, "Sebastian, you have some explaining to do…" she said, frowning slightly, seeing the unease on his face, "What's wrong?" she asked, unsure of why he looked that way. He hardly ever let anything worry him.

Instead of answering her, he looked at her sternly and said, "Listen to me carefully. You need to stay as far away from Alois Trancy and his butler, Claude Faustus, as you can. If either of them develops an interest in you, it will most definitely not be very pretty," he practically ordered her, looking at her seriously.

Kimberly didn't even know what to say, so she simply nodded slowly, "If you say so, Sebastian…" she said, unsure of what harm could come from the innocent seeming young boy and his butler. However, she didn't press any further into the matter.

That was her first big mistake in the matter.

 **((Hey guys! I finally finished this one and I think it is pretty good. Tell me what you think in the comment section, thanks so much for your support!))**


	14. Chapter 14

**((Thanks so much for all the support in the comment section, guys! I really appreciate it. Anyways, yes, Alois and Claude are entering, my babies will soon not know what to do with themselves XD))**

Kimberly smiled as she picked up the book she was reading. She enjoyed her schedule. It mostly consisted of wandering the hallways after reading a few chapters of her favorite book. Then she normally would help Ciel with anything or annoy him by talking to him when he needed to get work done. Sometimes, her schedule would get interrupted, like if the Queen gives Ciel an order, or they needed to go to town for something, or if they had guests over.

Today, she decided, would be one of those days her schedule would be interrupted. However, it didn't bother her too much. She wanted to have at least a little bit of alone time to think things through. It was much harder than she thought it would be to take something like this in all at once. Not to mention that question about what was different with Ciel was still swimming around in her mind. She couldn't get the thoughts of what might be missing out of her imagination. But what was really ticking away at her mind was how she had become fully human. She bit her bottom lip and knew she wouldn't be able to concentrate on more than a sentence of the book with her mind all over the place, so she decided it would be best to skip reading and instead walk around the hallways until the earl left. She set her book down and stood up, leaving her room and began her normal route, deciding to walk past Ciel's study and see if she could find that room Sebastian brought her to when she confessed her love for him. She blushed lightly and smiled at the memory, finding it made her heart flutter and her stomach churn.

As she walked, she was glad to be unable to hear a sound. Silence comforted her. She was glad it was the only thing meeting her ears at the moment. However, soon silence was not all that she heard. Her eyes were closed lightly as she walked slowly down the hallway, taking her time. She knew the manor like the back of her hand and knew exactly how many steps to take before turning. However, her eyes shot open when she heard a second set of footsteps. These footsteps were not unlike Sebastian's, however, Sebastian had a lighter tread than these ones. Without making it too noticeable that she knew someone was following her, she moved closer to the wall to make her turn, and when she turned, she looked behind her quickly.

What she saw, though, surprised her. It was nothing. No one was there. When she turned back around, though, her eyes widened with shock and she had to stop quickly in her tracks to stop herself from bumping into a tall figure wearing black. She took a small step back and looked up at the figure and immediately recognized him as the butler of Earl Trancy's. Sebastian's warning from earlier rang through her mind and for a fleeting moment, she thought about making a run for her room. However, the man didn't seem to look too threatening. In fact, he looked lost.

His golden eyes met hers for a moment and she was sure she saw them change color. However, they were still the same golden she had seen when she first looked up at him. Figuring it was just a trick of the light, she took another small step back so she wouldn't be so close to him, smiling politely.

"I'm sorry, are you lost?" she asked, looking up at him, "Where is my brother?" she asked, biting her bottom lip and hoping he was okay. Sebastian was with him, so he should have been, however she knew that Sebastian had a habit of leaving Ciel alone in the worst of times.

He didn't smile back, but he did look down at her and faked a concerned expression. She knew the look was fake because she had seen it so much on Sebastian's face, "Yes it appears I am, my lady," he said, placing a hand over his chest the way Sebastian did, "Would you mind directing me towards Lord Phantomhive's study?" he asked, straining to sound innocent.

She slowly nodded, though Sebastian's warning still swam through her mind, "Yes. In fact, I was just going that way myself… I can show you," she said, wondering whether or not she should actually trust this man. Sebastian said not to. He had never steered her wrong before, but at the same time, she didn't see the harm in leading him back to his master. Once he nodded, she took that as a 'yes please' and she side-stepped him and began to walk down the hall that lead to Ciel's study. She could feel his eyes on her and it creeped her out, but she didn't say anything about it.

She was growing closer to the study, but she suddenly felt her body being slammed into the wall. All the wind was knocked from her lungs and she attempted to shout out, but all that escaped her was a sound of breathless confusion. She felt his breath by her ear and trailing down her neck and she shuddered with disgust. What was he doing? What was even going on? She didn't know until she heard his voice. The moment his soft, emotionless voice was heard, it was as if she couldn't remember where she was. Who she was. Nothing else was important. The only thing that mattered was answering what she was being asked. Her body felt heavy, like lead. She heard a deep, smooth voice in her ear.

"Tell me, what is your status with the young earl?" the voice asked. She didn't know why the voice wanted to know, but she could feel her lips moving to form the words that left her mouth of their own accord.

"Ciel Phantomhive is my younger half-brother," she answered. Her voice was strangely monotone. But why? Why was she speaking at all? There was simply no reason for her to answer these questions, still she automatically did so.

She heard a bit of muttering that sounded almost like the voice was glad she answered. She then heard another question, this one more personal, "What is your status with the butler, Sebastian Michealis?" she heard the question. She knew it would be wrong to answer it. However, her lips moved again and the monotone voice sounded once again.

"Sebastian Michealis and I are lovers. We keep it secret from Ciel Phantomhive," she replied once more. She could feel her body becoming more and more stiff, but still heavy. It was like her blood had suddenly hardened and been replaced with led.

She heard a small chuckle and one final question was asked, "Are you important to Sebastian Michealis?" the voice asked. Without thinking, Kimberly knew she would answer. She knew the answer to this question.

"Yes."

Suddenly, she felt as though a good portion of her memory faded. She fell to the ground, her vision blacking out. She rubbed her eyes and coughed a bit, though she didn't know why she was on the floor. She didn't know why she felt so heavy. On top of that, she didn't know why she was in the middle of the hallway. The last thing she remembered, she had left her room and began her walk. She slowly stood up, frowning a bit and blinking a few times to let her eyes fully adjust to her surroundings. She could hear again, though she didn't realize her hearing had been affected.

"Sebastian, go fetch Kimberly from wherever she is," she could hear Ciel's voice. She frowned and realized she was right outside of Ciel's study. Her memory became less foggy and she remembered that she was taking a stroll through the manor the way she always did, but the earl Alois Trancy was visiting Ciel, so she was to steer clear of the two. So then why was she at his study? Why did he need her? She frowned and tried to stagger away from the room, but her body still felt oddly heavy.

She sighed and leaned against the wall, taking a few deep breaths to help herself collect her thoughts and herself. She didn't even realize Sebastian was standing right in front of her with a worried look.

"My lady, is everything alright?" he asked, the study door shut, though he was still being cautious. She looked up into his eyes and slowly nodded.

His oddly colored crimson eyes reminded her of someone. Of something. But she couldn't recall what. It was as if a blank space was in her memory, blocking her from the information needed. She bit her bottom lip gently and found her voice.

"Yes, Sebastian. I'm fine. What is it you need?" she asked, already forgetting she had just heard Ciel ordering him to bring her to him.

"My lord requests your audience," he answered, looking at her, still not buying her being alright, but didn't press the subject further, probably mentally deciding to ask her about it in private rather than in the middle of the hallway.

She nodded and followed Sebastian into Ciel's study, trying to keep her attention to the ground. She didn't know why, but she was bothered by the presence of the golden eyed butler standing by the blonde earl's side. She slowly looked up and saw Ciel's stare looking straight through her and he must see what Sebastian did. She looked almost as though she had been harassed. Her hair was no longer flat or smooth, instead it looked like she had been running - pieces of her hair sticking this way and that. She blushed softly upon realizing this but made no attempt at fixing it.

"You needed me, Ciel?" she asked, looking down at him with the best poker face she could muster.

"Yes, I did. It seems the Queen wishes for Earl Trancy and I to work together. We have come to the conclusion that the easiest way to do that is to allow Sir Trancy to remain here, in the manor, for only a few days. As you will be seeing much more of the Earl, it has been decided it would be best for you to properly meet our guest," he explained, the look on his face describing how much he hated having Alois in the manor for any longer than an hour or so.

Kimberly slowly nodded and turned to the Earl and smiled sweetly down at him, "Once more, my name is Kimberly Phantomhive. It is nice to meet you," she greeted him, unsure how else she could greet him.

Alois looked up at her and once again grinned, interest sparking in his eyes, "My name is Alois Trancy, as you already know. Now really, Ciel. We already met, why must we do it again?" he asked with a bubbly voice. It was odd hearing it - though she didn't know why. The boy looked rather bubbly so it didn't surprise her that she heard the tone of voice.

Ciel looked at him boredly before managing to utter words out, "I figured if you will be staying with us, we should be as kind and hospitable as possible. That is why if you need any help, simply ask one of my servants. However, if you are lost, simply ask Kimberly here. She knows the manor like the back of her hand," he said, nodding slightly to Kimberly as though to point out who she was.

Kimberly smiled and nodded down at the boy, "Of course. If you ever need to know how to get somewhere, I would be happy to help you, Earl Trancy-" she said to agree with Ciel, however she was interrupted by Alois.

"Alois. Call me Alois, Miss Kimberly. Earl Trancy is much too formal," he said, his grin widening a bit. He then turned to Ciel, "Well then, Ciel. Are you going to entertain me?" he asked. Kimberly could have sworn she saw a Ciel twitch a bit in annoyance before seeming to get an idea.

"I am sorry, but I have too much work to do for me to properly entertain you. However, I am sure Kimberly would be glad to entertain you while I do my work," he said, giving Kimberly a warning glance.

Taking this as yet another warning to be careful around the Earl and his butler, Kimberly nodded a bit, "Yes, if you like I can give you a tour of our manor. Or I can lead you out to the gardens if you like," she suggested, smiling politely at Alois.

She wasn't sure what the big deal was with him. To her, he was a harmless young boy. There was no need to continually warn her to watch her back around him. However, she decided it would be in her best interest to stay on guard when around him.

"The garden sounds like a good idea," he said with a small giggle, seeming to be excited to be staying in the manor, though she figured it was just in his personality. She nodded a curt goodbye to Ciel before leading him out of the study. She knew Sebastian was staring her down, but she couldn't turn to him to talk to him just yet.

Leading Alois down the hallway, she decided to lead him out of the west side door of the manor - she found it the easiest way to get to the gardens. She answered several odd questions Alois asked. She wasn't sure why he was so curious, but she remained polite to the guest. But one question he asked caught her off guard and made her stop in her tracks to help the question to fully comprehend.

"Miss Kimberly, do you believe in demons?"

 **((Thanks for the support, you guys! I worked hard on this chapter. I know Claude has never actually hypnotized anyone like that, but I feel he probably could. Anyways, tell me what you think in the comments!))**


	15. Chapter 15

**((Thank you guys for your feedback! It helps a lot to know how much you guys like this story! By the way, you guys, Caude does something, pretty bad. It doesn't get to anything too graphic, just kissing, but I figured I should warn you guys first so please don't report!))**

Kimberly blinked a few times and turned to look back at the young Earl. She wondered if maybe she hadn't heard the boy correctly.

"I asked you if you believed in demons," he asked, looking at her as if it was stupid that he had to repeat himself.

She frowned, looking back at him and trying to figure out the smartest answer to give him. On one hand, if she told him yes, it would make her look rather insane. She would have to explain herself and try to make everything she said sound smart and well thought out. However, if she said no, she would still have to explain herself. She decided it would be easiest to say that she did believe in demons; at least then she could say she only believed in them because of the bible. Talking about religion and sounding like you know what you're talking about always seems to make things better.

"Yes. I do believe in demons. It says in bible that the archangel Lucifer rebelled against God and was sent to hell, becoming the Satan that we know now. Lucifer created demons to carry out his own will **((Woot! Go Supernatural! Teaching me about religion XD))**." she explained, looking ahead of her once more and continued to lead him through the corridor, "we are almost to the gardens."

She could feel Alois' eyes on her back and bit her bottom lip, she knew it was a long shot. She continued on, smiling with relief when she saw the door that lead outside. She opened the door and lead him outside, glancing over her shoulder at them, making sure they were following her. Indeed they were and so she smiled a bit at them before looking back at the gardens, the bushes and bushes of white roses, different beautiful flowers of all varieties. She smiled as Alois grinned a bit and moved towards the bushes, walking past her to get a better look at the garden.

"You should display your roses better," he said in a slightly singsong voice, grinning a bit and turning to look at her, "Well then, are you going to show me around the garden?" he asked as he turned back to the small pathway that lead into the rows of shrubbery and flowers.

Kimberly nodded slightly and glanced back up at the manor, before turning back to Alois, "Of course," she said, walking to Alois' side before passing him and leading him down the path in the garden, "although, I do agree with you Earl- er, Alois. It would be nice if my brother used the roses to keep our from seeming so gloomy," she agreed with him. She didn't think Ciel would be so jumpy about a boy his age who seemed perfectly fine. She didn't understand what Sebastian and Ciel were so worried about. Alois seemed to be a perfectly normal boy, especially for his age.

She smiled down at Alois and thought of what it would be like if Ciel acted more his age. A small chuckle escaped her as she imagined him smiling and laughing, making jokes and running around for fun. It was the exact opposite of the way he was now. She smiled a bit and tried to stop imagining it - she knew she wouldn't be able to look at him right if she didn't.

"What's so funny?" Alois asked, defensiveness hinting in his tone of voice. She looked over her shoulder and smiled sweetly at him.

"Nothing, I was just imagining what it would be like if Ciel acted his age, the way you do," she explained, smiling over her shoulder at him. She really did wish Ciel acted his age instead of constantly trying to seem older than he is.

Alois looked like he was thinking over the idea before he began to laugh and grinned widely. He ran over to Kimberly's side and grinned at her, "Ciel would be much more fun if he acted like me, that's for sure!" he laughed, smirking at the idea and glancing around absent-mindedly. Kimberly nodded slightly in agreement before smiling down at him.

"Do you want me to show you a place where I used to take Ciel a lot?" she asked, seeing his crystal blue eyes sparkle with interest. She didn't know why, but she could feel her heart flutter with pride. Maybe he reminded her more of Ciel than she first thought. Though she couldn't help but to feel attached to the boy, she wished Ciel would be the way Alois was: unafraid to act his age. To be himself once and a while.

Alois nodded excitedly, "Sure!" he exclaimed, following Kimberly closely when she took a sudden turn into the hedges. She quickly maneuvered her way through the bushes until they entered a clearing that opened up to a white gazebo, smaller bushes of multicolored flowers, mostly pink and purple and blue flowers, ivy crawling up the gazebo.

"I used to take Ciel here whenever he got hurt. There used to be a path that lead here. When our parents died, Ciel had the path removed, but I still remember how to get to it," she smiled sadly, glancing at Alois to see his reaction to the hidden gazebo.

He smiled, though it obviously wasn't as exciting as he had hoped it would be and ran over to the gazebo and plopped down on the bench inside it, grinning and looked around, "Oh look, Claude! It's a spider!" he exclaimed happily, pointing to the top of the ceiling in the gazebo. He grinned and got back up and ran up and over to Kimberly, "Let's go inside, I want to ask Ciel something!" he said excitedly, still grinning happily.

Kimberly smiled a bit, all her worries about Ciel and Sebastian's warnings leaving her mind, she nodded at him, "Of course, I'll take you back inside," she said, smiling and nodding slightly at Claude, seeing him staring at her as she passed him with Alois. She could feel his eyes on her and felt panic surging through her quickly. However, she tried to push the panic away and decided to confide in Sebastian about the feeling later.

She lead Alois through the hedges once more, making her way quickly until they made it to the main pathway. She smiled a bit and lead him down the path and toward the manor, she still didn't understand why she had connected with him. Maybe it was because he reminded her so much of the Ciel she knew before she couldn't be there for him anymore. She mentally decided to push the thought away and lead him back into the home. She didn't know how, but it had already begun to darken. The sun was starting to set just as she walked through the door with Alois and Claude.

The moment she entered the manor, though, she knew she was going to be lectured by Sebastian again. She didn't know how she knew, she just felt it. She lead Alois back through the corridors until she got to Ciel's study. She turned to Alois and smiled, "I need to do something, so I cannot join you in annoying my brother," she joked a bit, "however, if you need help finding anything, don't be afraid to ask," she said with a smile.

Alois grinned and nodded, "Thanks," he nodded a bit to her before pushing his way into the room, not even knocking or anything. Kimberly rolled her eyes a bit and let out a slight chuckle before hurrying back down the hall. She had remembered what it was she was doing before she blacked out and was pulled to Ciel by Sebastian. She was trying to find that room she had been in with Sebastian. It was such a gorgeous room, but she really wanted to get a routine down so she could visit the room regularly.

As she made her way down the hall, however, she felt as though she were being watched. It was an odd feeling, like something deep inside of her had begun to writhe, trying to gain control. However, when she turned to look over her shoulder, no one was there. She shook her head to rid herself of her paranoia and turned back, walking a bit faster, though. She couldn't help herself, she followed her instinct to lead her to where she wanted to go, though she ended up getting herself lost. She had taken so many different twists and turns that she had forgotten which way she had to go to get back to her normal route. Biting her bottom lip nervously, she turned around to try to retrace her steps. However, she ended up heading down dark hallways and dead ends. She couldn't believe it; lost in her own home. Again.

She turned around at the end of another dead end, expecting to be able to find her way eventually, but what she saw at the end of the corridor made her jump back a bit. A pair of golden eyes stared at her through the darkness. There was only one person she knew of that had those rich, golden eyes, and that was Alois' butler, Claude. She doubted she was in much danger, she had been with him and Alois for most of the afternoon and he hadn't done anything to rise suspicion in the back of her head. Sebastian and Ciel's warnings once again forgotten, she walked confidently forward, towards the golden eyes, "How did you find me? I'm no where near Ciel's study, isn't that where Alois is? Did he get lost?" she asked him, slowly getting closer.

His silence is what scared her the most, he just kept staring at her, unblinking. Unmoving. She slowly stopped as she got within arms reach of him and opened her mouth to say something else to him, to ask him why he wasn't saying anything when the wind was suddenly knocked out of her.

She felt an immense pain in her back and hit her head against the wall. She cried out in pain, gasping for breath as she leaned against the wall she was just thrown against. She looked up at Claude in surprise. She saw him moving closer and she tried to edge away from him. Her eyes never left his, making her stumble a bit and fall, picking herself back up and once more felt herself being pushed into the wall. Only this time, she was pinned there. A hand closed around her throat, stopping any oxygen she so desperately needed. She struggled and clawed at his hand, trying to get him off of her, but she was too weak.

She felt hot breath next to her ear and she stopped struggling, in result, the hand loosened and she could get the sweet oxygen she craved. Panting and trying to collect her thoughts, she heard a deep, calm voice, "So, you and Michealis are close? Well, if he wants you, then I had better get to you first," he said, his bored drawl turning quickly into a growl.

She gasped at the words but was too paralyzed where she stood to fight against him. She felt her wrists being grabbed and pinned above her head, Claude's breath moving down her neck and shoulder. She tried to cry out but felt a pair of rough lips crashing against hers. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to free herself from the man's grip, refusing to kiss him back. Tears rushed to her eyes and she tried to become smaller, trying to push back into the wall and somehow free herself but most of all, trying to keep him as far away from her as possible.

She felt his grip on her wrists tighten as her struggling continued and made a risk. She decided she needed to call for help. She didn't like where things were going, so when he pulled away from her lips and attached himself to her neck, she let out the loudest scream she could make.

"Sebastian!" she screamed, thrashing against Claude. She called out his name as loudly and as many times as she could until Claude once again slammed his lips on hers to shut her up. That was when she felt Claude being ripped away from her. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Sebastian, though the lighting was dim, she could still make out his glowing crimson eyes, and right now, they were horrifyingly pissed. She felt relief wash over her as she felt Sebastian pull her away from the wall and into his arms.

She heard his voice, smelled his scent, she immediately let the feeling of safety wash over her, "Kimberly, I want you to stay behind me. Stay close," he instructed her. She slowly nodded and stayed as close as she could to him, remaining behind him as she tried to wipe her tears away furiously.

She could hear Claude, his voice sounding just as calm and bored as before, "Sebastian Michealis, you really can't blame me," he said, though there was no hint of emotion in it, "you've wanted to do that for a long time, haven't you?" he asked, she could just imagine his face, his eyebrow raised as he looked at Sebastian with disgust.

She heard the growling voice of Sebastian, his tone changing completely from being concerned and loving towards Kimberly to being furious and disgusted with Claude, "You're wrong, Faustus. What a disgrace! To think you call yourself a butler! A butler does not attempt to defile a Lady!" he growled, glaring at him. She gripped the back of his tailcoat at the thought of Claude 'defiling' her. She shuddered with disgust and fear and bit her lip hard to stop more tears from escaping.

Sebastian turned and picked Kimberly up gingerly, bridal style, "I will deal with you, Faustus, later," he promised as he walked past him with Kimberly in his arms. His eyes flashed a fuscia as he passed Claude and held Kimberly close to his chest. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and her head hid in the crook of his neck, she didn't want to look at Claude, too frightened of him to do anything but think of how much she'd like to see Sebastian kill him right then and there.

After they had turned down a few more hallways, Sebastian whispered in Kimberly's ear, "You can look now, he's gone," he reassured her, smiling softly. He was trying to make her feel better, no matter how much it failed, he obviously simply wanted to make her feel at least a bit better. His expression changed from soft and gentle to serious yet kind, "You cannot tell the young master about this."

Her eyes widened a bit at this order and frowned a little at him, "But Sebastian, he deserves to know who it is he is showing hospitality towards!" she said in a loud whisper. Being grabbed by the throat combined with screaming made her voice shrink considerably.

"I understand, however, if the young master knew this, he would immediately reject having anything to do with Alois Trancy and therefore go against her majesty's orders and the Phantomhive reputation would be destroyed. I will deal with Claude Faustus and make sure he understands who it is he is messing with," he explained, kissing her forehead gently and setting her down at the end of a hallway, standing her up straight and cupping her face in his hands. He moved her head from side to side to look for bruises and was glad to see Claude hadn't caused any marks that would be too noticeable. There was a mark on her neck, however she could put her hair down and cover it easily. She could change to hide the bruises forming on her wrists and her lips hadn't been too badly bruised despite how roughly Claude had kissed her. She sighed a bit and nodded in understanding. She stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you Sebastian," she thanked him in a voice that was barely audible.

"Now come along, dinner will be served any moment now," he said with a smile as he lead her down another hallway, one she recognized as the hallway that Ciel's study was in. She sighed a bit and looked down at the ground as they walked, side-by-side, to the dining room.

Sebastian warned her about Claude. She didn't listen and now look what happened. What was Alois like behind that childish mask?

 **((Thanks so much for reading this chapter, you guys! I hope you enjoyed it! I warned you about Claude, so I apologize if you were offended, however, I would appreciate feedback of what you guys thought of this chapter in the comments! Thanks so much!))**


	16. AN

Alight, sorry for the mass uploads of false 'thank you's and such, all of these chapters were originally for another website called Quotev. I have mostly been updating for them so right now, I am writing chapter 20, not 16. Sorry, guys! I didn't mean to take so long to update!


	17. ANOTHER AN! SORRY!

Hey guys! As you've more than likely already noticed, I have yet to update this story in a long time and I'm so sorry for that! I actually started writing this when I was like 11, so I really just can't get into it anymore. However, I have been writing lately and have been getting better (in my opinion at least) and would like to continue writing for you guys. So, the real reason I'm posting this is to ask you guys what kind of stuff you want! You can PM me with any fandoms you want to see written and if I know them and enjoy them, I will get to work right away! I'm not into everything, but I'm willing to check stuff out! My current favorite fandom is Steven Universe, but I am still in love with a lot of others! Anyways, if you actually read to here, thanks for reading my rambling and if you want me to write a story for a specific fandom, comment or PM me about it! Thanks again!


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